Mapping Place Names of India 9780429614217, 0429614217

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
Chapter 1: Place names
Place name
A place name
Number of place names in India
Without place names
For place name
Place of this book
Note
Appendix 1.A: Statewise references of research articles on place names in India, 1980–2016
Chapter 2: Nation’s names
India: A name from the river
Bharata: A name from the scriptures
Jambudvipa: A name from cosmography
Hindustan: A name from the Sultanate
Chapter 3: Names of the subnational units: States and union territories
Characteristics of the subnational place names
Most subnational names carry multiple interpretations
Classification of interpretations of the names of subnational units
Names to boost
Continuity and change of names
Appendix 3.A
Chapter 4: Sanskritization of place names
Sanskritization and religious place names
Duplicating religious place names
Religious group names
Place names resonating with the natural environment
Chapter 5: Persianization of place names
Place names reiterating the Muslim social milieu
Personal names of the rulers or commander in chief as place names
Confirming victory through place names
Religious place names
Chapter 6: Englishization and Anglicization of place names
Englishization of place names
Anglicization of place names
Demand for global standardization
Chapter 7: Nationalism and place names
Place names in 1947: What names did India inherit from its past?
Changes in names of districts: 1941–2011
Change of names of settlements, localities and roads
Selling place names to multinational companies
Policy for naming and renaming places in India
United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names
Standardization of place names for uninhabited parts of the earth, undersea features and even the moon
India’s inefficiency to standardize its place names
Appendix 7.A: Districts with change of name and spelling across decades
Appendix 7.B: New names added to the district map, 1941–1961
Appendix 7.D: Districts with change (of name and spelling) thrice and twice, 1961–2011
Chapter 8: Democratization of place names: Parliament debates the names of the states and union territories of India
Naming subnational units in post-independent India: The case of United Provinces
Naming the subnational units: Discontent over linguistic reorganization
The Constitution of India on naming the subnational units
Features of the Parliament debates on names
A classification of the Parliament debates over names
Not all demands for a name change were met: The case of Assam, West Bengal and Sindh
Appendix 8.A: Bills tabled in the Parliament for states’ reorganization and alteration of names
Chapter 9: Placenism and future place names
Clamour for new states
The concept of placenism vs subregionalism
Name as the symbol of placenism
Present number of aspirational states in India
Spatial pattern of ongoing placenism movements
Names of subnational units in present and future
How far ahead is the future?
Back to the past in future place names
Appendix 9.A
Other web resources
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

MAPPING PLACE NAMES OF INDIA

This book is the first of its kind to chart the terrain of contemporary India’s many place names. It explores different ‘place connections’, investigates how places are named and renamed, and looks at the forces that are remaking the future place name map of India. Lucid and accessible, this book explores the bonds between names, places and people through a unique amalgamation of toponomy, history, mythology and political studies within a geographical expression. This volume addresses questions on the status and value of place names, their interpretation and classification. It brings to the fore the connections between place names and the cultural, geographical and historical significations they are associated with. This will be an essential read for scholars of geography, law, politics, history and sociology, and will also be of interest to policy-makers, administrators and the reader interested in India. Anu Kapur is Professor of Geography at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, India. She is Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, India, and Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. In 2012 she received the Amartya Sen Award for distinguished social scientists from the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi.

MAPPING PLACE NAMES OF INDIA

Anu Kapur

First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Anu Kapur The right of Anu Kapur to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Disclaimer: The international boundaries, coastlines, denominations, and other information shown in any map in this work do not necessarily imply any judgement concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such information. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kapur, Anu, author. Title: Mapping place names of India/Anu Kapur. Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018052824| ISBN 9781138350816 (hbk: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780367149185 (pbk: alk. paper) | ISBN 9780429057687 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: India–Historical geography. | Names, Geographical–India. Classification: LCC DS408.5 .K36 2019 | DDC 911/.54–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052824 ISBN: 978-1-138-35081-6 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-14918-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-05768-7 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

CONTENTS

Lists of figures vi Lists of tables vii Forewordviii 1 Place names

1

2 Nation’s names

44

3 Names of the subnational units: States and union territories

51

4 Sanskritization of place names

78

5 Persianization of place names

88

6 Englishization and Anglicization of place names

98

7 Nationalism and place names

119

8 Democratization of place names: Parliament debates the names of the states and union territories of India

148

9 Placenism and future place names

188

Bibliography209 Index221

FIGURES

1.1 India: Spatial focus of place-name studies, 1980–2016 2.1 The Sapta-Sindhu 3.1 India: Interpretation of names of subnational units (states and union territories) 3.2 India: Boosterism names of subnational units (states and union territories), 2017 3.3 Durability of subnational names 4.1 India: Group place names for sacred Hindu sites 6.1 Variations in spelling of names prior to the British orthography of standardization 7.1 India: Districts with complete change of name, 1961–2011 8.1 India: Chronology of formation of subnational units (states and union territories), 1956–2017  8.2 India: Alphabetics as group names for states, 1950 9.1 India: Names and locations of aspirant states

18 45 60 72 75 83 109 123 149 153 196

TABLES

3.A 6.1 6.2 7.A.1 7.A.2 7.B 7.C 7.D.1 7.D.2 8.1 8.2 8.A.1 8.A.2 9.A 9.B

Maps sourced for the historical study of administrative names Procedure and format followed by Hunter to ‘standardize’ place names of India Incorrect spellings of place names on the maps of the northern districts of the Madras Presidency Districts with change of name, 1961–2011 Districts with changed spellings of the name, 1961–2011 New names added to the district map, 1941–1961 Nature of name change of the districts, 1941–1961 Districts with change (of name and spelling) thrice, 1961–2011 Districts with change (of name and spelling) twice, 1961–2011 Alternative names suggested for Uttar Pradesh, 1947–1950 Lok Sabha debates over state names Bills for states’ reorganization and new states Bills for alternation of names of existing states Geographical spread of aspirant states Names of provinces/states eliminated between successive censuses

77 114 117 138 142 144 145 146 147 151 183 185 187 207 208

FOREWORD

When Anu shared her resolve to do a book on place names in India, I could not hide a bit of scepticism. My immediate response was that considerable research is already available on the theme of place names, and there is limited space left to manifest her characteristic creativity. I had in mind books like Place Names: How They Define the World And More, by Richard Randall; Signposts to the Past: Place Names and the History of England, by M. Gelling and Place and Placelessness, by Edward Relph. I was also aware of some societies, journals and government organizations specializing in place-name studies. I believed that my observation was evidence-based and well-placed. Anu was equally resolute. She affirmed that her proposed book will be a pioneer geographic exploration of the theme not undertaken so far. The effort will be to unfold the spatial reality of India as it evolved over time by digging into the mystery embedded in its place names. Place names are not to be deemed simply as markers of locations; these carry within them the hidden strands of ecology, culture and history. These have a chronology of their origin, continuity and change, and even disappearance in some cases. These have a political dimension too, which makes them subject to legislation in democratic dispensations. She added that creativity lies not only in raising something new but also in giving a fresh shape, interpretation and meaning to what is already known. This book honours her assertion. To expound on the ‘theory of place’ has ever been Anu’s great intent. This she could demonstrate through her recent book, Made Only in India (2015). It is a holistic study of goods carrying the official stamp of ‘geographical indications’. Only those goods that are marked by a unique quality can claim this tag; these are goods raised in certain specific registered locations in India. These products are a quintessence of the ecology, skills resource, cultural heritage and established reputation of the area concerned. Research on geographical indications,

Foreword 

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by some oddity, had for long escaped the attention of practitioners of the discipline of geography. This book can be credited as having broken fresh ground in that sense. While ‘geographical indications’ goods are markers of the exclusiveness of the production of a place, the name of a place embodies the very rationale of its existence and proclaims its identity. Each name is inherited and remains a spatial stamp on its natives. It may undergo a vagary of change under a new political dispensation. With such foundational ideas, Anu set forth on a fresh journey to explore the distinctiveness of place names in India as representing its geographic diversity through time. The outcome is the present book, Mapping Place Names of India (2019). Place names are indeed the first alphabet of geography. Every description in this discipline begins with a place name. The address function of a place name is basic to the functioning of any spatial system. Ironically, a search into the origin, meaning and essence of place names is often bypassed. These are taken for granted as a matter of daily use. Anu’s book fills that void and does much more. Through an insightful processing of the flow of information on place names of India, it weaves a fascinating scene of its regional tapestry. The conceptual framework and methodological tool-kit have been fabricated with rare ingenuity. Names separate place from space in the realm of philosophy of geography. While space is an abstract, indefinite, undefined expanse of physical and cultural landscape, place is a specific component of space. Since every place has a unique presence, it cannot do without a name. This name imparts a sense of belonging to its inhabitants. The political dimension of place names in terms of power relations is also a reality. It is an arbiter of who is an insider and who is to be excluded. Meanwhile, the place is not free from considerations of spatial scale. For a cosmopolitan, the whole world is one place; for a nationalist, his or her country is a place; for a regionalist, a province or state is a place and for a local individual, a city or village of residence is the place. Often research targets the nomenclature of individual settlements. Here, again, this book marks a distinction. It focuses primarily on the diverse names of India and of its various states and union territories but names of districts and contextual places are not missed in compliance with the demands of the text. How many of us can distinguish among India, Bharat and Hindustan? Why did a choice fall in favour of ‘India that is Bharat’, symbolizing a blend of external and internal nomenclature? Who were the people or institutions involved in finalizing such a decision? Likewise, did various states inherit or acquire or were ascribed their present names? What were the alternatives considered? In which different ways can the names of various states be classified and interpreted? Why do none of the states show a consistency in its name from ancient time to the present? We are so used to these names that such questions do not occur to our minds. In all likelihood, many of us do not have answers to the questions raised. This book comes handily to our help. It offers stimulating, authentic and impactful responses to all such points of curiosity. Not only this. The names of

x Foreword

aspirant states likely to emerge in the future are also deliberated. The coverage is astonishing. The task has not been easy. One has to have a skill and invoke an ingenuity in decoding and interpreting the names of places. A grasp of geography and history of different parts of India is indispensable. A working familiarity with the specific language of different areas, in addition to Sanskrit and Persian, is an essential. A capacity to sculpt all bits of information into a geographic mould is no less critical. Here, the book does not hesitate to lean on the available writings on the theme in English rendering. A wide-ranging perusal of the gazetteers, archival material, and relevant research writings is all too visible. The book is to be commended for adopting an amazing route of winnowing the material from the records of the parliamentary debates to learn about divergent views expressed while finalizing the names of various states after independence. This has been done with a sharp geographic lens. A striking conclusion emerging from churning through the collated literature calls for at least a succinct statement. Place names during the Sanskritization phase were rooted in the soil of land, nature and religion. These found an association with the valour of the victor or stamp of Islam or invocation to Allah (God) during the Persianization phase. Subsequently, during the Anglicization phase, the naming of new places got linked with those of prominent builders of the colonial empire or of their royalty back home or, at times, of individual officials. A remarkable simultaneity of place names with the court or official language is easily observed. Moreover, place names are marked by their stability during the Sanskritization ancient phase, a forced replacement during the Persianization medieval phase and a systematic standardization during the Anglicization colonial phase. The post-colonial period witnessed a kind of revisionism wherein indigenous names of places are being reincarnated. A discovery on the sidelines was that the name of a place can be subjected to change at some critical juncture. This takes place usually under a new aggressive political regime. The replaced or newly given name may signify a manifestation of religious fervour, or a display of personal aggrandizement, or a revival of the indigenous, among other things. In a political discourse this may find an expression in a demand for a separate state. To capture this tendency, Anu coins a fascinating term, ‘placenism’, in affinity with regionalism and nationalism. A possible substitute term, ‘placeism’, was avoided because it smacks of determinism akin to environmentalism. Similarly, the term ‘localism’ was not adopted because it has a limited scope of extension to regionalism and nationalism. Placenism carries the flavour not only of emotional and cultural bonding with place but it also carries a flag for political consciousness. In a mode parallel to historical periodization of origin of place names, one can discern successive phases in the study of place names themselves. The first phase is noted for a focus on explanation of the name of the place, its local history and regional setting. The second phase transited as an interpretative decoding of the place names in terms of their ecological context, cultural milieu

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and historical occurrence. The current phase is directed towards the political dimension of place names, especially the replacement of the prevailing names by the indigenous ones. This post-colonial and regime-change phase displays such a tendency on a large scale. Waltair is now Vishakhapatnam, Leningrad is back as St. Petersburg and Peking has been transliterated as Beijing. Canada is scrubbing out the colonial-era place names and replacing these with indigenous ones. The same is true of South Africa in its post-apartheid times. The work accomplished by Anu goes much beyond encapsulation of all these approaches and ideas. Indeed, the book Mapping Place Names of India, has been a great learning for me. By harnessing the value of place names as the building block, she architects a new configuration of the historical geography of India. The product is innovative and profound in formulation and manifestation. Place names emerge as signboards of local affinity and regional specificity. While standing out as an identity mark for an individual, an ethnic indicator for a sociologist, a cultural resource for a historian and a philological delight for a linguist, for Anu as a geographer these are a synthesis of ecology, culture, politics and history in an area in the nature of its DNA or atma (soul). Such stimulating ideas and nuggets of information are offered in a simple, swift and lucid style of literary expression. The book emerges as required reading for students at university level. It holds a special relevance for those who are involved in research in social sciences, humanities and linguistics at large. It cannot be dispensed with by decision-makers looking into issues related to place names. A lay person will find it an intellectual treat. The book is an invitation to all of them. Gopal Krishan, Professor Emeritus, Panjab University, Chandigarh; and National Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi

1 PLACE NAMES

Professor Dinesh Singh, as Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, visited my home for the first time on June 12, 2012. It was a Tuesday. It was gracious of him to come to congratulate my parents over the Amartya Sen Award for Social Scientists which had been bestowed on me by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. I recall the day and date, not because it was my birthday but for the reason that in less than a few minutes of his presence, Professor Singh named my home, Sunehra Ghar: a golden home. Our home is neither decorated with artefacts of gold nor does it carry the glitter and glamour of the lifestyle of a celebrity. By any standards of urban living, it is spacious, spartan and simple. Moreover, it is 65 years old and carries the weather of time. Why did he name this place Sunehra Ghar? What are the associations behind the emergence and the connotations of a name? Was it my father’s modest business of exporting gold jewellery or was it the warmth of my home and the joyful radiance of my family and friends that had resonated with his inner thoughts. Professor Singh always has a way with words and often creates rhymes. All in all, the place name has endured. Some letters and couriers carry the address: Sunehra Ghar. A short film made on the history of this home bears the title Sunehra Ghar. Place names are a human endeavour to grasp and fix the identity of various elements of a habitat within the rubric of a single word. When the anthropologist Keith H. Basso asked an Apache Native American, ‘What is wisdom?’ the answer was, ‘Wisdom sits in places’ (Basso, 1996). I am tempted to add that wisdom also sits in the names of places. A name captures the essence of a place. Place name matters.

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Place names

Place name What is a place name? The United Nations Organization has a definition of a geographical name. It states that a geographical name is a proper name that could be a specific word, combination of words or expression and one that is used consistently in language to refer to a particular place, feature or area having a recognizable identity on the surface of the earth. Named features include: populated places (for example, cities, towns, villages); civil divisions (for example, states, cantons, districts, boroughs); natural features (for example, streams, mountains, capes, lakes, seas); constructed features (for example, dams, airports, highways); unbounded places or areas that have specific local (often religious) meaning (for example, grazing lands, fishing areas, sacred areas). A geographical name also includes names for extra-terrestrial features such as craters on the moon or other planets (Orth, 2006). While the content of the above definition is comprehensive, I have replaced the word ‘geographical name’ with that of ‘place name’. This is because I feel that a name draws its eminence from the ecology of a place. Place is not just a site but a crucible of a multitude of factors and processes that create its character and characteristics. The patterns of weather and sky, the folds of the land and water, colour and type of soil and vegetation and the history, politics and narratives, all go into making a place. Place is a receptacle out of which a name is born; it is a womb that births and nurtures a name. At a profound level, the name sheds light on the nature of a place. Therefore, instead of using the phrase a ‘geographical name’, the expression ‘place name’ seemed a more appropriate fit.

A place name A place name is a bridge that communicates a place to the people of the world. It not only has a fundamental allegiance to the place it belongs to but, much like its DNA, it is a repository of the people, their language, history and ecology of the place. A place name performs diverse functions.

Locates and differentiates Names help locate and differentiate between places. It is because of this ability that they come in handy to chart directions, define movement and identify destinations. Transport, trade, tourism and even, for that matter, defence operations depend upon the accurate knowledge of names of places. The broadcasting of news is specific to events that happen at a particular place. Making reference to disasters, be it the tsunami or a terrorist attack, or announcing a count of the votes of a political candidate loses specificity in the absence of the name of a place.

Finds information Place names are one effective way of navigating the dense maze of data, text, maps, photographs, videos and many other forms of information that flood us in

Place names 

3

the digital age. Where are you? What is the best holiday destination? Which is the closest airport? Which is the nearest hospital? So much knowledge is spatially based, and the name is a significant channel to sort, categorize and interrelate sets of data, whether we think locally, regionally, nationally or globally. It is through place names that one reads a map or books a flight or a rail ticket. Place names are indispensable in the collection and delivery of goods when one is purchasing through online marketing portals like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay and Ali Baba. It is on the edifice of place names that rest the modern tools of mapping. In the operation of the Geographical Information Systems, for example, the process of querying, buffering and overlaying operations are possible on the basis of assigning reference to a location. This is because Geographic Information Systems use location as the key variable to relate information. These spatio-temporal locations must relate to one another and ultimately to a ‘real’ physical location on the earth and may be recorded as a date, time of occurrence, longitude/latitude, altitude and name of a place. Such is their importance, that GeoNames, licensed under Creative Commons, has built a resource of over 10 million place names and meets nearly 150 million web service requests per day.

Welds place with products, discoveries, communities A place has a way of weaving its ‘name’ into an endless variety of products, goods, discoveries and communities. The sword-blades made in India had great fame: The Hindus excel in the manufacture of iron and in the preparation of those ingredients along with which it is fused to obtain that kind of soft iron which is usually styled Indian steel (Hindiah) … It is impossible to find anything to surpass the edge that you get from Indian steel al-hadid al-Hindi. (Yule, 1920) India ink was the name given to the high carbon content of the indigenous mixture of burning bones, tar and pitch. Applied with a reed pen, this was the common medium for writing. Black pepper is one of the oldest Indian exports. The plant is found wild in the forests of Malabar and Travancore. The Europeans called black pepper Indian capsicum (Mahindru, 1982). In all such cases – Indian steel, India ink, Indian pepper or Indian capsicum – the prefix India indicates the source of the good. There is also evidence where the name India is embedded within the name of the good. The phrase ‘Open Sesame’ is from the Indian Oil Seed, til, or Sesamum indicum. Tamarind in North India is a graceful tree for shade but in South India its flowers and fruits provide a sour pulpy seedpod much valued for flavouring. The word tamarind originated from tamar-e-hind. When the Arabs came to India they found the tamarind to be similar to dates (tamar is the Arabic word for dates) so they called it tamar-e-hind or dates of India and later it became tamarind.

4 

Place names

The picturesque hill station of Sirumalai on the southernmost tip of the Eastern Ghats lends its name to the Sirumalai hill banana. The fibreless, tasty and fleshy dusseheri mango draws its name from a village named Dusher located between Lucknow and Malihabad in Uttar Pradesh. The one-time estate of the Nawab of Lucknow, the village Dusher is presently called Dusseheri. Textile fabrics frequently take their names from the place where they first acquired excellence and retained them long after (Kapur, 2015). ‘The muslin woven in the region of Warangal, in the state of Telangana, was called “Original muslin” in London and was marketed all over Asia as well as in Europe’ (Irwin, 1955). The hills surrounding the city of Salem lend support to the Sanskrit word sailam meaning ‘mountain’. The word salya, itself a corruption of the Sanskrit original shalika, means weaver, which emphasizes the antiquity of Salem as a weaving centre. Most of the weaving in Salem is still concentrated in producing saeylai, a Tamil word for saree. Salem means the place where saeylais are produced. At times the name of place submerges fully into the name of the good. Darjeeling, the name of the hill station of West Bengal became a type of tea from 1882 onwards. Bidri, a metal-working technique unique to India, takes its name from the Deccan city of Bidar. When a naturalist ‘discovers’ species of plants or animals in a particular place, the norm is to build the name of place into the name of the species. The plant Indigo feratinctoria and the dark blue dye made from it were both called indigo; its appellation Indica was well-known as a product growing on the banks of the river Indus. Muga is an Asomiya word indicating the amber colour of the cocoon. The scientific name of Muga silk, Antheraea assamensis, carries the name Assam as its birth mark. Assam has the monopoly of world production for the unusual lustrous golden-yellow, attractive and strong silk. The scientific name of the tea plant, a tropical plant of Assam, is Camellia assamica. Nagaland, one of India’s tribal states, houses the hottest chilli in the world. The local name of the chilli is Naga Mircha, an allegiance with the Naga tribes of Nagaland. The zebu cattle with the characteristic fatty hump on their shoulders, of the Malwa Plateau in Madhya Pradesh, is called Malavi. Birds from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are named after the islands where they are found. One example is the Nicobar pigeon, Caloenas nicobarica, with its grey head and very short white tail. Many studies on the leopard cat were conducted in Bengal; therefore, the scientific name of the leopard cat is Prionailurus bengalensis. The role of the place name in the names of animals and plants gives information about the region of their origin and this method has been designed to help in the scientific classification.

Builds into hobbies and games Place names are also about games, collections, writing, films and much that is fun. Philately is entirely a place-name-based interest. The hobby of collecting stamps is practiced as a profession and the famous American Philatelic Society has around 30,000 members in 110 countries. The key deciders in the board

Place names 

5

game of Monopoly are the many place names, each of which carries different prize of money. I recently discovered that there also is a license-plate-collecting hobby associated with place names. Scott Zillmer, editor of Maps and Graphics, a National Geographic partner writes: My basement is home to hundreds of real, used license plates with two things in common: first they’re all vanity plates (a license plate of a vehicle having a distinct or personalized combination of letters or numbers or both), and second they all feature place-names. Subcategories include plates featuring country names, city names and island names. (Zillmer, 2017) Many a fiction writer would find it difficult to build the characters and set a story without creating a set of places alongside that carry a name. Several film producers use a name of a place in their film titles. This is done either as a way to situate their story or to specify a particular event that happened in that place. Bhopal Express pictures the grim tale of the gas leak from the Union Carbide Factory in Bhopal; Mission Kashmir deals with terrorism and the tragedy of children suffering from war within the state of Kashmir; Udta Punjab tells the tragic tale of drug abuse in the state of Punjab; Salaam Bombay chronicles the life of street children in the city of Bombay. The scenery, scene and sense of the place are the title in all these films.

Bonds people with place A name bonds people with a place. This works in myriad ways and on numerous scales. For instance, the name Marwari, carried by an ethnic group in India, comes from Marwar, a region in south-west Rajasthan in India. The word Marwar is derived from the Sanskrit Maruwat, maru meaning desert. Similarly, Vrajabuli, a form of Prakrit language, is named after Vraja, a well-known area situated on both sides of the river Yamuna, between Delhi and Mathura and associated with the god Krishna. In the Marathi language, the valleys of the Krishna and the Godavari rivers, and a part of Deccan Plateau, adjacent to the Sahyadri Hills, is called the Des (the country or simply the land) and the coastal region is called the Konkan. The contrast between Konkan and Des is the most basic distinction within Maharashtra. The two principal kinds of Maharashtrian Brahmins – Deshastha and Konkanastha – are named after their origin in these two parts of the state. The Deshastha Brahmins are residents of the country; the word Deshastha derives from the Sanskrit deśa (inland, country) and stha, meaning ‘resident’. The Konkanastha Brahmins inhabit Konkan. Another example are the places named after the rishis. The poets who composed the Rig Vedic mantras were known as rishis. The esteemed status bestowed on the rishis led to the concept of gotra or a group of people who claimed descent from one or more rishis. Some of these gotras became associated

6 

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with the name of a place. Agroha is the ancient name of the region of Hissar in the state of Haryana. Agroha had 18 sub-administrative units that were called Garg, Mangal, Kucchal, Goyan, Goyal, Bansal, Kansal, Singhal, Jindal, Thingal, Airan, Dharan, Madhukul, Bindal, Mittal, Tayal, Bhandal and Naagal. These place names in the Agroha kingdom became synonymous with the 18 gotras, which translated into the surnames of the community of Agarwals in India. Traditionally, many Tamil personal names are place-rooted. Here is the pattern: Initial (village name), Initial (Father’s name), Given name and Caste name. For example: E. V. Ramasamy Naicker, where E. stands for the village Erode, V. stands for the father’s name, followed by given name and the name of the caste. These examples signify the value of place and its name in people’s lives. There are other ways a place weaves into the names and surnames of people. Deshmukh is a surname, which means a person who is the mukhiya or head of a desh (territory). The valley of Kashmir is laced with a network of canals locally called nehars. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister was a Kashmiri. The surname Nehru comes from one who lives on the bank of a nehar or canal (interestingly a river is called ‘nehir’ in Turkish). Places lend names to people and people lend names to places. The present name of the city of Chennai, an abbreviated version of Chennappattanam, owes its origin to Chennappa Nayakadu, father of Venkata. In deference to the generosity of Chennappa, this city, which the British called Madras, was renamed Chennai in 1996. Such is the pride for place that when people move, they take the name of the place with them.

Traces history of people and place When people migrate by force of circumstance or even otherwise, then in the new place they often keep names that belong to their ‘native’ place. For example, the Moplahs are the Muslim peasants of Malabar region of Kerala. Through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Moplahs had revolted against the British Raj and were sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the Andaman Penal Colony. In the Andaman Islands, they named their villages Calicut, Wandur, Tirur, Manjeri, Malapuram, Manarghat and Nilambur, after the name of their native villages in south Malabar. During the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, migrants from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) settled in the Andaman Islands. Most of the villages where they settled carry names that are commonly found in their native land. Durgapur, Shibpur, Madhyamgram, Kalighat, Kadamtala, Bakultala, Rampur, Bijoygarh, Shaktigarh and Govindpur can be listed as an illustration. The urge to replicate a ‘native’ name is perhaps an expression of topophilia. Coined from the Greek word topos, meaning ‘place’, with the suffix philia, meaning ‘love of ’, the word topophilia means love of, and love for, a place. It is well accepted that people foster close emotional bonds with their ‘habitat’ (Tuan, 1974). Place names are repositories of historical and cultural associations. Puri, Konark, Chilika, Pipli, Dhauli, Katak – the places without which the cultural

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history of Odisha cannot be complete, are names found in Iran. Takhteh Puri is a village in the Gilan province of Iran and Konarak is the capital of the Koran County, Iran (Balakrishnan, 2009). Ayodhya is the birthplace of Ram in the epic Ramayana. This city is located on the Sarayu River, in Uttar Pradesh. Providing evidence of the spread of Hinduism in South-east Asia is the name of the province Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya in Thailand. The Foreign Names Committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names approved the world’s longest name in 2015, and it belongs to the city of Bangkok. It reads as follows: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit (United States Board of Geographic Names, 2016). The ceremonial 193-character name for Bangkok translates as ‘City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Vishvakarma at Indra’s behest’. The words ‘Vishvakarma at Indra’s behest’ confirm India’s influence on place names across the seas. At times, some ‘old’ names are clues to the history of the place, when names of a place are changed. Calcutta was renamed Kolkata on January 1, 2001; yet the university, set up in 1857, retained the name. It is still known as the University of Calcutta. Similarly, the University of Madras, established in 1857 (Madras was renamed Chennai in 1996) and the Banaras Hindu University, established in 1916 (Banaras was renamed Varanasi in 1956) continues with the old name. This tenacity of old place names helps make a historical connection.

Creates a place experience A well-conceived name is, and should be, able to capture the essence of a place. This is because associations get codified within the name. Even without visiting Goa, its name builds an image of the sea, beaches, sunshine and palm trees. Agra takes one to the Taj Mahal and Darjeeling recreates for us the tea gardens where women hand-pick leaves and put them in baskets strapped on their backs. Recalling the name Jallianwala Bagh evokes the sad memory of the massacre that took place on April 13, 1919, when a crowd of non-violent protesters, who had gathered there, were fired upon by troops of the British Indian Army. The associative ability of place names translates into why proper nouns become common nouns: Himalayan is often used while referring to a task that seems enormous, and Ganga for anything pure.

Integrates place Politicians are keen to give a national image to their ideas and ideology. The place name is used to build and represent this image. It is for this reason that national political parties have a tendency to take the name of the country, like Bharatiya

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Janata Party, Communist Party of India or the Indian National Congress. It is in their use of such a place name that they evoke a pan-Indian identity. The voice of regional or state parties is also tagged to the name of their regional or state affiliations. Examples are the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, People’s Party of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim Democratic Front, Kerala Congress, among a host of others. At times, multiple names for the same entity create the feeling of being inclusive. For example, the city of Allahabad and Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh have several names. Allahabad is also known as Prayag while Kashi and Benaras are names for Varanasi. To wield power and enforce a sense of belonging, place names are often grouped. The collective name gives people a sense of unity. ‘North-eastern states’ is the group name for the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. All these regions share a collective social milieu, cultural mosaic and economic landscape. They are also referred to as the ‘Seven Sisters’, an epithet familiar enough to be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation. In 2002, Sikkim was included in the north-east region because of its ethnic similarity and geographic contiguity with the seven states, and the phrase ‘seven sisters and one brother’ was coined to accommodate this change. Hindi is the mother tongue in seven states – Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. This has given the states the collective unity of reference as the ‘Hindi belt’. Since cattle-rearing is common to these states, they are often referred to as the ‘Cow belt of India’. Dravida or Dravidasthan is a name that personifies the unifying thread of Dravidian culture and language. It refers to South India, the territory of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The connection is language: for Tamil Nadu it is Tamil, for Karnataka it is Kannada, for Kerala it is Malayalam and for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana it is Telugu. Puducherry is the name of a union territory, which includes Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. All these parts of Puducherry are in different coastal regions – the districts of Puducherry and Karaikal are situated on the east coast in Tamil Nadu; Yanam is also on the east coast but surrounded by Andhra Pradesh; and Mahe is on the west coast surrounded by Kerala. Yet the name Puducherry functionally unites them into one administrative unit. A way to group places is to identify their underdeveloped status and then give them a name that characterizes this status. The demographer, Ashish Bose, coined the acronym BIMARU in 1980 for Bihar (inclusive of Jharkhand), Madhya Pradesh (inclusive of Chhattisgarh), Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (inclusive of Uttarakhand). Subsequently, Odisha was also added to the list. BIMARU translates into a situation, which is ‘sick or ailing’. The collective address fits these states of India, all of which are afflicted with large populations, high fertility rate, slow economic growth, low per capita income and high incidence of poverty and disease. Place names unite but some can whip up anger and thus also be divisive in nature.

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Divides place The importance of name can be seen in the conflicts and riots over the name Dalmiapuram. The latter is a small town in Tiruchirapally in Tamil Nadu. Its original name was Kallakudi. When the Dalmiya Group, which traces its origin to the businesses established by Ramkrishna Dalmia and Jaidayal Dalmia, set up a large cement factory here its name was changed to Dalmiapuram. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), one of the leading political parties in the south, took to the streets on the grounds that to name a town in Tamil Nadu after a North Indian industrialist was an insult to Dravidians. They agitated to change the name back to the original Kallakudi. On July 15, 1953, the protest against the change became so violent that the police had to open fire, killing and injuring people. The Dalmiapuram agitation continued to simmer and in 1967, when DMK won the election and came to power in the state, the railway station and the nearby areas were returned to the original name, Kallakudi (Tamil Tribune, 2014). The price of a name could be a person’s life. To attract the attention of the Tamil Nadu Congress for having changed the name of the Madras State to Tamil Nadu, Thiagi Sangaralingar, a patriot and freedom fighter fasted for 76 days from July 27, 1956 to October 10, 1956. The loyalist sacrificed his life and the government was brought to its knees to bring in the change. Given the multiple roles a place name serves it is worth asking how many place names there are in India and what the ways and means to access places would be had there been no place names.

Number of place names in India The number of place names in India runs into millions. India is the second most populated country in the world; it also is the seventh largest country in terms of area. India harbours nearly half a million villages and has organized its local selfgovernment in rural areas into 240,355 gram panchayats. Each gram panchayat has numerous standardized localities within its boundary, called wards. Their number depends upon the size of the population and pattern of human habitation. Each ward and locality has a name. Likewise, towns are organized into wards, localities, roads, each carrying a name, along with India’s many rivers, tributaries, mountains, hills, plateaus, plains and a host of other features. The Census of India tells us exactly how many people there are in India; yet no one to date can tell us how many place names there are in the country. The following is an estimate by the Survey of India, the oldest and most accredited mapping organization of the Government of India. It was the British who had established this organization in 1767, to acquire accurate information about the territories of India. It maps India at the large scale of 1:50,000, where one unit on the map is equivalent to 50,000 on the ground. Even the ‘Open Series Maps’, introduced after the National Map Policy of 2005, are on this scale. To map the country at this scale requires precisely 5,106 sheets of maps. These large-scale

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maps were first prepared by the British, and post-independent India took 30 years to update all of them; the last map of this series was printed in June, 1987. Agarwal (1989) observes: it is for the first time that there is a record of all place names related to their correct locations in India. A map prepared by the Survey of India, with a scale of 1: 50,000 scale normally picks up all the place names. On an average, each map of this scale carries about three to four thousand names; which mean that there would be about 1.5 to 2 million place names in India. Given these numbers, one has no choice but to accept that place names have value. But it is also worth pondering, for a moment, the possibility of a world without place names.

Without place names Without place names the world would still be a fascinating world, a world of diversity and mystery. Before names had not been invented, how did one identify places? Did people use specific landmarks or was it the stars or stories attached to a place that were the markers to differentiate places? In current times, without place names, we can make use of numbers, alphabets and words as alternative modes of referring to a place.

Degrees and minutes One accurate way to reference a place is the use of latitude and longitude. Parallels of latitudes are imaginary lines that run east to west, around the globe, and meridians of longitudes are imaginary lines that run north to south, from pole to pole. Latitude is the angle formed by joining any place with the centre of the earth and the centre of the earth with the equator. Such an angle will be 0° at the equator and 90° at the pole. Hence, there are 89 parallels in the northern hemisphere and 89 parallels in the southern hemisphere, while the equator is the ‘90th parallel’. Longitude locations are given as east or west of a universal line called the Prime Meridian. Longitude of a place is the angle formed with the longitudinal line of the Prime Meridian at the poles. This angle will be the same at both the poles. Since such a system is in the form of a circle (which has 360°), there are therefore 360 lines of longitudes in terms of degrees. As the vertical starting point for longitude, the Prime Meridian is numbered 0° longitude and there are 180 meridians east and 180 meridians west of the Prime Meridian. The intersection of latitude and longitude lines identifies the exact location of a place. Thus, a place X can be addressed by marking out the degrees and minutes both in terms of latitude and longitude. The address of the national capital of India, Delhi, is 28°25¢ to 28°53¢ north latitude and 76°50¢ to 77°22¢ east longitude.

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Row and path numbers When satellites were put into the orbit of the earth to collect data, another method to address places was invented. In 1972, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United States of America, designed a numerical method for tracking places called the Worldwide Reference System. As the satellite moves along its path, the observatory instruments scan the terrain below. During this process, the data is segmented into individual frames known as scenes. The framing is uniform for each orbit. A satellite captures a ‘scene’, technically called an ‘imagery’, of any portion of the earth. For example, a complete orbit by Landsat provides 248 scenes. The notation assigns sequential path numbers from east to west to 251 nominal satellite orbital tracks. The method of addressing the scene to the corresponding area/place on the earth is the system of row and path numbers. Row numbers refer to the latitudinal centre line of a frame of imagery. Row 060 corresponds to latitude 0° or the equator. Row 059 is immediately north of this, and the progression in descending order continues to latitude 80°1¢12² north, which is Row 001. Row 119 is at latitude 80°1¢12² south. The combination of a path number and a row number uniquely identifies a nominal scene centre. The path number is always given first, followed by the row number. The address of Delhi is written as Landsat WRS-2 Path 146 Row 040 (https:// landsat.­usgs.gov/wrs-2-pathrow-latitudelongitude-converter).

Grid of alphabets and numbers The Survey of India, ensures the accuracy and publication of all maps issued by the Government of India. To map the country, the British divided India into rectangular pieces, each of which is referred to by the use of alphabets and numbers. An international series map within 4°N to 40° N latitude and 44° E to 124° E longitude, at the scale 1:1,000,000 was adopted as the base map to create this systematic division. The base map was divided into sections of 4° latitude × 4° longitude and designated from 1, at the extreme north-west, to 136, which is in the eastern extreme. The division covers only land areas and leaves any 4° rectangles which fall completely into the sea. For the topographic maps of India, the 4° × 4° section is further divided into 16 parts, 4 rows by 4 columns, each of 1° latitude and 1° longitude at the scale of 1:250,000. These are referred to with the alphabet, beginning with A in the north-west corner and ending with P, column-wise in the south-east corner. Since each of these maps covers one degree of latitude and one degree of longitude they are known as degree sheets. The degree sheets are divided into 16 sheets, 4 rows by 4 columns, each 15¢ latitude × 15¢ longitude at the scale of 1:50,000. These are numbered column-wise from 1 at the north-west corner of the particular degree sheet to 16 in the south-east. With this method, Delhi can be referred to without the need for a name, using the following numbers and letters of the alphabet: 53 D/13, 53 D/14, 53 H/1, 53 H/2, 53 H/3 and 53 H/6 respectively.

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Code of numbers and alphabets Address codes are also used when registering vehicles. All motorized vehicles in India are tagged with a license plate that usually carries a nine- or ten-digit registration number that is a mix of both letters of the alphabet and numbers. The code in India carries four letters of the alphabet and six numbers. The first two alphabetic codes refer to the state and/or the union territory in which the vehicle is registered. The next two-digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. The third part is a four-digit number unique to each plate and refers to the address of the person owning the vehicle. In the case of a police investigation of an accident or vehicle-related crime, witnesses usually remember the initial area-code letters – it is then quite simple to narrow down suspected vehicles to a much smaller number by checking the database without having to know the full number. Moreover, with these codes one can reach the address of the owner of the registered vehicle without recourse to the place name.

Postal Index Number (PIN) A Postal Index Number (PIN) is a code designed to help route the mail to locations without the use of place names. In India, the Postal Index Number is a six-digit number that locates a place. To facilitate the movement of mail to its destination without the use of place names, India has been divided into nine postal zones, including eight regional zones, along with one main centralized zone. These follow the cardinal directions: north, west, south and east. The states and union territories of India are adjusted within these regions. The first digit of the pin code refers to a region. There could be more than one state or union territory, which belongs to a region. For example, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, all belong to the northern region and get a code number 1. The second digit indicates the sub-region, which spreads across the whole of a state or union territory. Thus, Delhi gets 11, Haryana 12 and 13, Punjab 14 to 15, Chandigarh 16, Himachal Pradesh 17 and so on. For administrative purposes, each state is composed of a number of districts. The third digit indicates the postal district within the region. The next three digits indicate the particular post office where the letter is to be delivered. The first three digits together indicate the postal district where the letter is to be routed. The last three digits refer to the actual post office where the article is to be finally delivered. In some countries like the United Kingdom, the pin code includes both alphabets and numbers, whereas, in India the entire pin code is made up of numbers. Thus, through a pin code one can reach a place without the need to use a name.

What3words A recent and novel system of accessing addresses across the world is the use of what3words. A brainchild of Chris Sheldrick, based in London, this concept divides the earth’s surface into nine-metre – square blocks. Each block is

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given a name consisting of trios of randomly selected, unrelated words. Dividing the earth’s surface into nine-metre-square blocks requires nearly 57 trillion addresses. Sheldrick realized that 40,000 words would be enough to do the job, as this number actually yields 64 trillion three-word combinations. What3words can be downloaded as a free application on a mobile phone and can be used by navigators, motorists, service providers and businesses across the world. The system of latitude and longitude is the basis for the addresses on what3words. The words are far easier to remember, use and share than a set of coordinates consisting of the degrees and minutes of latitude and longitude. The users of this system of locating addresses say that words are easy to memorize, type out and communicate by phone. Moreover, it is precise and works well for locations that do not have specified addresses, like the huts in a slum, or settlements in remote locations, for example, within the Thar Desert of Rajasthan or the Himalayas. What3words is an alternate system to names for addressing a place. In this context, the what3words to address Delhi are: discussed, wiring, rehearsal. When all these different forms of referring to a place are applied to an administrative unit like Delhi, here is the address: 28°25¢ to 28°53¢ north latitude and 76°50¢ to 77°22¢ east longitude; the satellite address is path 146 and row 40 (WRS-2); postal code of 1; vehicular code DL; and the what3words are discussed, wiring, rehearsal. All the above-outlined methods of referring to a place are accurate and are able to function like an address to a place, but as soon as these arrays of numbers, codes, letters of the alphabet and words are summed up in a common noun ‘capital’, what instantly springs to mind is the image of an urban place that has a unique status in its country. To call it a capital also carries the message that the place has an important functional and symbolic link with other parts of the country. Now, if instead of the generic word capital, one refers to the place with a proper noun, ‘Delhi’, what unfolds is not just an address, a location or a capital but a specific, sure and distinctive place. The place appears as the capital of the Republic of India. Apart from being the political hub of the largest democracy in the world, the name Delhi carries the identity of a historical city studded with monuments like the Qutab Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, Lodhi Garden and the India Gate. By virtue of its location in India, the name Delhi separates it from all other capital cities in the world. Therefore, while there are many ‘devices’ available to refer to a place or territory, a name still stands out. Given the multiple roles of place names, it is worth asking: What is the status of place names studies in India? What concern has India shown for the study of place names?

For place name India was perhaps the first country in the world to undertake the study of place names. The credit for this goes to Pāṇini, the fifth century bce great Indian grammarian. Pāṇini’s treatise, the Ashtadhyayi, carries a corpus of geographical

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knowledge, with a special section on place names. Why would a grammarian collect and document geographical information? How was this information collected? What does it reveal about the study of place names? Pāṇini’s main objective was to provide a comprehensive principle of classification by which similar grammatical formulations could be grouped and brought under a common rule. These grammatical rules allowed huge linguistic data to be reduced to order and become simple to understand. To devise the categories and principles of grammar, Pāṇini gathered a large mass of linguistic information. Among the many words belonging to this mass of linguistic data were names of places. Place names form an integral part of language. To collect the data on place names, Pāṇini travelled across an area stretching from Kamboja (Pamir region) and Kapisi (Begram in Afghanistan) to Kalinga (Odisha) and Surma (Assam). To gather knowledge during his field visits, he put geographical, social, political and cultural details of places together along with their names. The latter consisted of names of towns, regions, janapadas, rivers, families (gotras) and schools among others (Agrawala, 1963). Pāṇini observed that a place name does not originate by mere accident but is an outcome of social and historical conditions with which people are intimately connected. Pāṇini devised a classification of place names, on the basis of their suffixes, into four categories called Chaturarthika. These were: first, places named after their founders; second, places named after their economic products; third, places named after their historical associations and fourth, places marked by their proximity to a known object. Thus, Pāṇini’s genius was able to utilize what was primarily designed as a grammatical technique, to throw light upon place names. He evidently was the first to sow the seeds of place name studies in India, and perhaps in the world. In similar vein are works like the Tolkappiyam grammar of Tamil, Nyasa of Jinendrabudhi, KatantraVyakarana of Sarvvavarman, Chandra-Vyakarana of Chandragomin, which throw light on the matters of place names. Most of these belong to the time period between the fifth and seventh centuries bce. They confirm that India had a head start in the study of place names. While grammarians used place names as an aid to define the rules of language, a different kind of interest in place names is evident in the Sthala Puranas (Sthala means ‘place’ in Sanskrit). Scholars state the origin of Sthala Puranas between the fourth and sixth centuries ce but these have been modified till as late as the sixteenth century. The Sthala Puranas are scriptures that elaborate the virtues of specific Hindu temples or shrines and explain the meaning of names within a religious context. Here is how the name Mumbai is explained in the Sthala Puranas: It is stated that in times of yore, there lived on this island, a powerful and mighty giant bearing the name of Mumbarak and the island had derived its name from him. He was out to trouble both people and the Gods on earth. All the Gods, therefore, proceeded en masse to Vishnu to seek protection from him and prayed to destroy this foe. Upon this, Vishnu and

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Shiv extracted a portion of their lustre, each from his own body, and made of it a goddess or Devi for the destruction of the giant. The goddess then beat Mumbarak almost to death and threw him down on the ground. The giant sought forgiveness and implored the goddess to join his own name with hers and to ensure the perpetuity of that name on earth. The goddess accordingly granted his prayer and named herself ‘Mumbadevi’. (Mumba Devi reclaims Bombay, n.d.) Lending support to an early interest in place names in India are the Lammitllons from Manipur. When a Manipuri king was on a tour by elephant, the court minstrel who used to follow him would sing a Lammitllon or the language of the landscape, describing the area en route, its historical events and the derivation of its place names. The art of singing the legend of place names is peculiar to the Meiteis of Manipur. When the Meiteis learnt the skills of writing, the oral literature was documented on the bark of trees or handmade paper and was, therefore, preserved. These manuscripts are kept in state archives and private museums, while a few are in the custody of local pundits and are a rich source of information on the names of places of the region (Gunindro, 2011). It would not be far from the truth to state that, probably, India, with its reputed grammarians and rich oral tradition, was the first country in the world to have collected and classified the meanings of place names. When did the science of place names originate in the modern world and why? Where is the heart of research on place names in India today? The study of names is called Onomastics (Greek onoma meaning names). Names are of various types: personal names of people, ethnonyms for ethnic groups or nationalities, glottonyms for languages and place names called toponyms. The word ‘toponomy’ is of Greek derivation; topos means ‘place’ and onoma means ‘name’. In a geographical sense, it means ‘place names’, as of a settlement, district or country. The word contains the suffix ‘nomy’, which is derived from the word nomos, which denotes ‘the science of ’. Toponomy then is the science of place names. The Collins Dictionary states that the word toponomy first appeared in the English language in 1876 (www.collinsdictionary.com). One marker of when Europe began to take an interest in the study of place names is evident from the birth of the English Place Name Society in 1923. Its role was to research into the origin and history of the place names in England. The reason for this interest could well be that England in the mid-nineteenth century was witnessing a rapid change and there arose a need to preserve place names as symbols of identity and culture. The British interest in place names across the world can also be associated with the vast colonial empire they had established. In these colonies they encountered place names that were new to them. They wanted to learn and understand them. But even more important than an intellectual curiosity, the British as colonists were keen to gain political control and exploit the resources of the new territories they had occupied. To this end, they were eager to survey and map the colonies. A place name is integral to the activity of making

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maps. It is in this vein that the British began to take an interest in the study of place names of India. The work on place names was also consistent with their growing interest in the language and history of India. The Brahmi script had been deciphered in 1837, and this made it possible to read the past from this new source. To gain knowledge from the ancient texts of India, British scholars began to learn Sanskrit. A new breed of indologists made efforts to collect original manuscripts in Sanskrit of the Vedas, Puranas and other texts. To enhance and further the cause of oriental research, Sir William Jones established the Asiatic Society in 1784. The early issues of the journal of this society carry articles on place names of India. A pioneer effort was that of Alexander Cunningham, a British army engineer. He founded the Archaeological Survey of India in 1861, which archived edicts, copper plates, manuscripts and other historical artefacts from across the country. The indologists and their collections became a veritable source of knowledge about India and rekindled a concern for the study of place names in India. By the twentieth century, the study of place names in India began to ignite interest in three different parts of India: Bengal in the east, Gujarat in the west and Mysore (present-day Karnataka) in the south. Entirely different reasons seeded place name studies in these three areas. In Bengal, British indologists and a few German orientalists largely inspired the work. Their research was published largely by the Asiatic Society, which had its headquarters in Kolkata. In stark contrast to Bengal, the emergence of interest in place names in Gujarat drew its strength from the spirit of nationalism and anti-British sentiment. It was the Gujarat Vidyapith, a centre for learning established by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, that became a home for research on place names; it was here that the Department of History and Culture of Gujarat undertook the basic work on place names. The first place name society of India, the Gujarat Sthalanama Samsad, was founded at Baroda in 1957 under the presidency of Shrimati Harsa Mehta, Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University. A handful of its members did the spadework on the place names of Vadodara, Chorotar, Khambat and Bharuch. Based on the work of Nakshaman Gujarat in 1973, a compendium of place names of all the districts of Gujarat was published in 1996 by the Gujarat Sahitya Academy, and reprinted in 1999 by the Gujarat Rajya Grantha Nirman Board under its first director, I. J. Patel, Professor of Economics at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara.The result was to unfold the ‘ancient’ original names as the heritage and identity of India (Sharma, 2000). Whereas a pride in the history of India motivated an interest in the study of place names in Gujarat, in southern India linguists were at the forefront. In 1980 a group of scholars in Mysore established the Place Names Society of India. This society was nourished in its infancy by the Epigraphical Society of India and today draws grants from the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi. The society annually publishes Bhāratīya Sthalanāma Patrikā, or Studies in Indian Place Names, the only journal on place names to be published in India.

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Close on its heels was a forum of scholars in Kerala who, in 1983, launched the Place Name Society, with its headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram. Their main aim was to make toponomy a scientific pursuit and link it with linguistics, anthropology, sociology and epigraphy. Organizing a series of seminars across the state of Kerala, the Place Name Society published Perspectives in Place Name Studies (1987) and Studies in Dravidian Place Names (1993), collections of proceedings of the National Seminar on ‘South Indian Place Names’ and ‘Dravidian Place Names’ respectively. Apart from the work of these societies, there are a few books on place names in Kannada and Telugu but these await English translation. In the works on toponomy, Severine Silva (1963) cannot be overlooked. The author travelled and compiled a study of over 15,000 place names in Canara region of Karnataka. Similarly, there is a project on the place names of Kashmir funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research and work on place names in Bihar by the anthropologist N. K. Bose. In spite of these contributions the stock of work on this theme is frugal. This can be concluded by tracking the challenging journey of Studies in Indian Place Names, the only journal on this theme in India.

Journey of place name societies The trajectory of a dynamic society is that it enrols members, organizes seminars, builds publications and soon is able to set up a centre or an institute of repute. Hand in hand, academic societies make their voices felt and are able to negotiate for their cause in some established university. The subject begins to gain presence within the curriculum of concerned departments. Thereon accrues teaching and research and thus expands the scope of the field. Exemplifying this is the case of the English Place Name Society. By 1982 it had made a home for itself at the University of Nottingham, and the society matured into an institute in the same university by December, 2002. By 2007, it had published 82 volumes of the Survey of English Place Names, which were at the county scale. This is steady progress, by any academic standards; the same has not been the case in India. The Place Name Society of India has been able to net only 300 to 400 members during its existence of around 37 years. Moreover, its presence is confined to a limited geographical area. This is evident from the fact that, although it has been regularly organizing an annual conference, a sample of 24 conferences shows that the venues of 15 were in the southern states; four in the western states; two in northern ones and central ones respectively; and only one in an eastern state of India. A clear case of a catchment confined to the south of India When the studies on place names were categorized into their respective states of India, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka emerged at the forefront, attracting over 55 percent of the total research, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, which captured another 11 percent each (see Appendix 1.A and Figure 1.1). The status of research on place names in India can be gleaned from the words of the president of the Place Name Society of India: ‘toponomical

FIGURE 1.1 India: Spatial

focus of place-name studies, 1980–2016.1

Source: Compiled by author. Disclaimer: The international boundaries, coastlines, denominations, and other information shown in any map in this work do not necessarily imply any judgement concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such information.

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study in this country is in its infancy. A few articles of elementary nature have been published in various journals in English as well as in regional languages’ (Hiremath, 1991). A decade later the situation remains unchanged and the president of the same society in 2002 voiced concerns that ‘the study of place names has not attracted younger research scholars in university and research institutions … most educated persons are not even familiar with the words like toponomy and onomastics’ (Murthy, 2002). The state of affairs is evident from the presidential address at the 27th Annual Conference of the Place Name Society of India in 2002, which stated that ‘the Society should develop a website, where it could give details of place names’ (Murthy, 2002). As of 2018, a website is still not in sight. A handful of dedicated scholars have kept the society alive for the worthy cause of place names. Its struggles are many financial and institutional but the central issue is the lack of scholars committed to the cause of research on place names. The study of place names is of concern to many branches of knowledge, including linguistics, ethnography, folklore, philology, history, philosophy, literary scholarship and geography. While the enrolments can be diverse, the net in India is small and confined. While many disciplines can engage and make their contribution to the study of place names, in India it is only few linguistics that have shown interest on this theme. Forthcoming have been the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore; International Institute of Tamil Studies, Chennai; Kerala State Institute of Language, Thiruvananthapjuram; Linguistics and Tamil Departments of Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore; Department of Telugu, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati; International Institute of Tamil Studies (Chennai); Tamil University (Thanjavur); Department of Telugu, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Andhra Pradesh and the Dravidian Linguistic Association, Thiruvananthapuram. The contributions are largely confined to a handful of universities in South India while other universities across India add little to this pool. Doctoral research on this theme is pursued in less than a dozen universities in India. On the list are Acharya Nagarjuna University, Andhra Pradesh; Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh; Madras University, Chennai; Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana; Karnataka University, Dharwad, Karnataka; Tamil University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu and the Poona University, Pune, Maharashtra. The Madurai Kamraj University is the only one that gives importance to toponymical studies. The limited doctoral stock and its confinement largely to the campuses of South India, also reflects the lack of courses of study on this theme. Reconfirming this dismal state of affairs are the words of a scholar from the Place Name Society, Kerala: ‘It is rather disappointing to note that no remarkable work on Indian toponomy has been published during the two decades between 1957 and 1976 except unpublished thesis’ (Nampoorthiry, 1987).

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Geographers in India lack involvement in place name studies Geographers of India are no less to blame for this anaemic state of affairs of the study of place names. The first Department of Geography in the country was established in 1922. Despite being in existence for almost a century, the importance given to the study of place names in India draws a complete blank. There are three reasons I can think of that could have created this absence: First, geographers tend to take names for granted. They tend to trivialize the study of names in comparison to problems faced by India, which could range from studies of land-use change to environmental problems to disaster management or urban and regional studies. A second reason could be the lack of any one agency or place where information and facts about place names could be gathered. A lack of published sources, or a dictionary of place names of India, means that it is difficult to overcome the practical problems of the lack of ready-to-use data. This also reveals that geographers in India work from within a zone of convenience and comfort and shy away from lesser-known terrains. In turn, this builds a ratchet trap: less data, less interest, and fewer facts; the lower the chances of a course on such a theme being offered. This feeds back into limited research, and so continues the deadlock. The study of place names is in fact a valuable geographical beat. Geography is about places and, therefore, names of places are within the ambit of geography. There is a geography of place names. The distribution of place names, the relationship between name and place, classifying place names, mapping the spatial presence or absence of certain types of names do reveal the place and its people. The history of names found in particular social groups or areas, and establishing their social or geographical patterns, advances the understanding of India. Place names are at the core of a human response to our physical and cultural environment. This is why places in India are named not only after a river, rock or mountain but also after gods, gurus and personalities. A name is time- and place-specific. A study of names is important for the light it sheds on a place. A range of topics could be studied if a course on place names were offered in the departments of geography. It could cover different topics, like the concept of place and its relation to name, resources for the study of place names and interpretation of place names. A section could be devoted to place name and landscape. Changes in place names and reasons for renaming could also be explored. Geographers could well raise some simple questions, like: In what ways do place names reflect the ecology, culture and history of an area? What are the processes that result in a change in place names? What specific contributions can geographers make to the understanding of place names? Besides being an intellectual pursuit, the study of place names can help geographers play a role in handling the stock of place names for the benefit of administration, and mapping and even drafting a policy for name preservation and name change in India. By building a data bank of place names, geographers

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could become service providers to agencies and companies involved in marketing, mapping or spatial planning. Following is an example of the role that geographers could play in the context of study of place names.

Role of geographers in the national stock of place names of India: A case of homonyms Place names are the way to identify geographic features. But the problem with place names is that, sometimes, they are not unique; some places may have many names and many different places may have the same name. There are place names that are spelt and pronounced the same, but refer to different geographical locations. Such homonyms are confusing. When I made a country-level analysis based on the names of 8,410 towns and cities listed in the Census of India, 2011, it generated as many as 410 homonyms, signifying that nearly 5 percent of the towns and cities of India have the same name as another city, town or place. Among the name-alikes, 199 of them occur within India, 141 are names of places outside India, while there are 70 names that crop up simultaneously both inside and outside of India (Kapur, 2015). Homonyms of the towns and cities of India are spread across the continents. There are 211 names that are common in India and abroad while the total places that share names is 276. Asia takes a sizeable 178, Europe another 55 while America and Africa swallow another 20 each and Australia books 4 places names that are similar to those of towns and cities in India. The problem becomes serious when it is seen that of the 410 homonym towns and cities of India, 2 towns have as many as 12 homonyms, 36 towns have 3 homonyms, 75 towns have 2 homonyms. The name Nawabganj is noted for seven places found in Uttar Pradesh. Similar is the case with Jafarabad (eight places), Saidpur (eight places), Allapur (seven places) and Jalalabad (seven places), Rampur (seven places), among others. The town of Jalalabad in Uttar Pradesh has three homonyms outside India; two in neighbouring Afghanistan and one in Central Asian Kyrgyzstan. Also, within India, it has three homonyms; one in Punjab and two in Uttar Pradesh. Hence Jalalabad has a total of six homonyms, three in India and three outside India. There are many ways a homonym can be born, but generally it seems that when people migrate from one region to another and set up a locality, village or town they tend to give a ‘native’ name to the ‘host’ place. But homonyms can mislead and confuse. Arani, is a town in Tamil Nadu and is also is the name of a city in Bolivia. Similarly, Agra is a town in India and in Oklahoma, United States. Hyderabad is the capital of the state of Telangana in India, and Hyderabad is also a city in the Pakistan province of Sind. There is a Srinagar in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and another one in the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. Kashmir is a classic case. The political strife between Pakistan and India has given rise to a Kashmir in India and an Azad Kashmir or Occupied Kashmir in Pakistan. It would be the role of one who has

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expertise in place names to work with governments and international agencies to smooth out these and other such issues. In spite of the value and scope offered by the study of place names, geographers in India have kept this theme out of their domain. Today geography is taught in thousands of colleges and many postgraduate departments across the length and breadth of the country. There are over three dozen geographical societies and associations, many staking a national claim. Geographers in India regularly dispatch invitations to many seminars and conferences. Scores of doctorates are awarded in geography each year. Yet, not a single department of geography offers a course, either as a main subject or as an optional one, on the study of place names. There is not a single doctorate on this theme by a geographer and never has any geographical society held a seminar or an exclusive session on the subject, or taken time out to learn about place names.

Place of this book The present book is a small step in this direction. It is an attempt to fill the void in the hope that it will inspire some through the portal of the study of place names. Besides fulfilling the role of invitation to students and colleagues, the other reason that lured me in to this study of place names, is the fact that it is unexplored terrain. Moreover, I am writing this book because I believe ‘place’ is an expression of fundamental geographic value. Place is not just a site, a barren mathematical latitude and longitude, nor soil, climate, flora and fauna, nor people, politics or culture, but it is a chemistry of all this and much more, which creates the soul or atma of a place. Mapping place names is a research that explores and reveals the diversity of India. This book tries to argue that the power of place is such that it worms and weaves itself into the name and becomes, in fact, the essence that differentiates the place. The book offers many ‘place connections’, ranging from how places are named, why names change, and who has played a role in the naming or renaming. The ecology of place names is embedded in its social and political processes. In scaffolding the interpretations of some place names, this book shows how place continues to possess great significance despite its continuous lack of acknowledgement. The intention has been to draw place out of its latent position and put it starkly and clearly forefront; somewhat akin to reading the world through a word. Mapping Place Names is about charting the terrain of place names in India. It is a matter of national importance that people of the country know the place names of their country. In my recent book Made Only in India (2015) I researched the concept of place goods. These are goods that owe their distinctive characteristic to their place of origin. So unique and specific is the role of place that a law called Geographical Indications has been enacted for their protection. The law states, ‘“geographical indication” … is where a given quality, reputation or other characteristics of

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goods is essentially attributable to its geographical origin’ (Section (1) (3) (e) of the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999). The Act has created the scope to identify, register and protect those goods, be they natural, agricultural or manufactured, that draw a definite character from their ‘place’ of origin within India. The Geographical Indications Act flags up the value of place in goods and products; the present book looks at a name as the marker of the making of the identity of place. This is what sowed the seeds of my urge to study place names in India. At first, I thought that I would just write a longish piece on this theme and append it to a book on value of place in India. This is how I had framed it when I posted out my book proposal while seeking the position of Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum Library, Teen Murti, New Delhi. During the grant of this fellowship, I discovered all sorts of fascinating details that I thought needed further investigation and the material grew from a chapter into this book. The strength of this book is to sketch a map of place names in India. This map is dynamic and ever evolving. To capture the spatial and temporal character of place names, this book has been organized into nine chapters. Chapter 1, ‘Place names: An introduction’, addresses what a place name is. What are the roles of a place name? How many place names are there in India? Can places be referred to without names? Why are place names important? What is the research on place names in India? How does India compare with place name studies in another country, for example, Britain? What are the place name societies and centres of research in India? What has been their focus and performance? What is the role of geographers in India on place name studies? This chapter familiarizes itself with and spells out the characteristics of a place name. With the first chapter as the introduction, the second chapter moves directly into the multiple names of the country and their interpretation. Chapter 2, ‘Nation’s names’, asks the following questions: Why does India have different names? Who gave those names? When did the various names come into parlance? What are the interpretations of these names? Which among these multiple names have endured? Why have these continued to be the nation’s names? After the names of the nation the next tier of administrative hierarchy are the names of the states and union territories. The next chapter establishes the varied interpretations and mode of classification of place names by focusing on the names at the top of the administrative hierarchy. Chapter 3, ‘Names of the subnational units: States and union territories’, sets out to first clarify the reasons as to why the states and union territories of India have been selected for a focused study of place names? It then moves on to analyze what the characteristics of the names of these subnational units are. What are the varied interpretations of these names? How could these interpretations be classified? How do these names bond with the characteristics of the state and union territories they address? What is the diversity of India that gets revealed through these names and their interpretations? What is the durability of these names? Having established the interpretations and classification of the

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administratively important names the next set of chapters set out to unravel the processes that have changed the map of place names in India. Chapter 4, ‘Sanskritization of place names’, begins by explaining what Sanskritization is. When and how did this process impact names of places in India? What is the basis of this process of name change? What is the manifestation of this change of names? What type of names did this process create? What was the spatio-temporal sweep of this process of name change? Why and how does this process continue to the present day in India? A clear marker on changing place names in India is the arrival of the Muslims and thus follows Chapter 5, ‘Persianization of place names’. What is Persianization? When did it begin to make inroads into India? For how long did this process continue? Why were names changed in this process? What are the types of changes in names during this phase? How can one read the impact of this change in the present-day names in India? Transiting from the phase of Sanskritization and Persianization, Chapter 6, ‘Englishization and Anglicization of place names’, addresses the colonial impact on place names in India. The chapter coins a new differentiation between place names that were Englishized versus those that were Anglicized. Then it moves on to raise the issue of the types of place names that fall into the two categories and illustrates the type of changes that each introduced. But, more importantly, the chapter asks why the colonists changed place names. What was their intention and what methods did they deploy to ensure a systematic change of names across India? The departure of the colonists brings independence to the country but it comes with the partition of the country and the creation of Pakistan. A mixed mood of joy and anger permeated India. The next chapter addresses how this impacts place names. Titled ‘Nationalism and place names’, Chapter 7 raises questions like: Why did nationalism herald a change in place names? What was the scale of change? What is the current trend of change in names? Does India have a policy for change of names? What have been the resolutions of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names? What are the indicators that confirm that India has adopted a passive attitude to the issue of setting up any administrative machinery to monitor changes of names? Ending on a pensive note about India’s lack of policy or laws on place names, the chapter opens up another front by asking which names are not governed by any rule or policy. The next chapter sets out to analyze how India debates and decides on the choice of names in the Houses of Parliament. Chapter 8, ‘Democratization of place names: Parliament debates the names of the states and union territories of India’, brings forward for the benefit of the reader the content, context and tone of how members in the country’s House of Parliament debate place names. What were the main features of the debates on names in India? Which were the names that were debated? Why were the names changed again and again? How long does it take to table a name in Parliament and get it changed? Were there names that were not changed? If so, why, and which were these names?

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The book does not want to end without a prognosis of the future. Chapter 9, ‘Placenism and future place names’, looks at which are the possible names of states that are likely to appear on the future map of India. To explain their emergence on the map of India, this chapter coins a new word, ‘placenism’. What is placenism? How does it differ from subregionalism? What are the parts of India that are under the spell of the process of placenism? What are the likely names that would mark the map of India? Which are the names among the subnational units that are likely to be replaced? What messages can be drawn from the names that are likely to be etched into the future map of India? The tapestry of place names in India was not easy to weave. The warp and weft of the book carries different strengths and colours. This is because the book draws upon the interpretations of place names provided by different scholars because there was not a single book or dictionary in English pertaining specifically to the meanings of place names in India. Archiving the meanings and interpretations of place name turned into an occupation of hunting and gathering. Hours were thus spent sifting through historical texts, state encyclopaedias, travelogues, gazetteers, state and national reports and other publications on India and its regions. The search took me through many libraries in Delhi, like that of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, National Archives of India, Nehru Memorial and Museum Library; Parliament of India library; India Habitat Centre Library; and the Central Reference Library and the Ratan Tata Library in the University of Delhi. The first edition of Imperial Gazetteers of India was published in nine volumes in 1881. The second edition, augmented to 14 volumes, was used between 1885 and 1887. The volumes of the Imperial Gazetteers of India, which were written, as the title suggests, in the colonial era, proved to be a valuable source of interpretations of place names. In addition, a perusal of the volumes of the journal, Studies in Indian Place Names and the publications of the Place Name Society (Thiruvananthapuram) rendered invaluable help. Surfing the Internet and moving from ‘link’ to ‘link’ was another way in which some information could be retrieved. The official websites of the Government of India threw in an occasional skimpy one line on the names of places while some blogs did share comments on some names. Dense to plough through, but rewarding, were various bills on State Reorganization and Name Alteration that have been tabled in the Houses of Parliament – the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. One can retrieve the details of such debates from the archives of the parliament library and can learn how the state and union territories of India got their present names. These bills were a valuable source of information on the process of naming places in the country. For assistance in gathering facts pertaining to place names, which, as I have mentioned, was not an easy task, I benefited greatly from the help provided by my students. In the initial phase, Aakriti Grover rendered help in many meaningful ways. Anupama Hasija was my undergraduate student back in 1988. Her husband Manoj is Joint Director, Simultaneous Interpretation Service, Rajya Sabha in the

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Houses of Parliament. Along the track came Vandana Khokkar who, with due diligence, catalogued the bills from the parliamentary debates. It is because of the help all provided that the parliamentary debates could be accessed, archived and catalogued. Ankita joined me as a doctorate student only recently. But keen to learn, she pitched in whenever she could and with whatever help was asked of her. The support of Dr. S. Chattopadhyay in sourcing the publications of the Place Name Society (Thiruvananthapuram) and that of Professor H. Nagaraj, Head of Department of Geography, University of Mysore for accessing, photocopying and couriering the many volumes of Studies in Indian Place Names was of exceptional value. I remain in deep debt to both. Without the support of Dr. Punam Tripathi, as always, this book would never have seen completion: searching for what I need but do not know where to find; filling in those last-minute dragging details with patience; and her soulfully energizing words, ‘“we” can complete this book’. Anuradha has a penchant for coming in most unexpectedly and most supportively. Like an adept gardener, her eyes can spot the weeds and sift the husk from the seed while providing her editorial assistance. The maps for this book have been drawn with precision and patience by Mohan Singh, the cartographer at the Department of Geography, Panjab University, Chandigarh. As in each of my books, so also in this case, Professor Gopal Krishan sat down to pen the foreword. I am grateful for this continuity and his commitment. I feel his words keep my books sealed within a fold of a blessing. My colleagues at the Department of Geography are supportive. They ask me little, tell me little, and they meet me little. They let me be. I could not ask for better. This is not little. Searching, collecting, sifting, collating, checking, coding, writing, editing, mapping and bringing a book to the stage of publication is a long, long haul. Research draws strengths from all acts, small and large. Even though one has published earlier yet, like one’s children, each throws up its own challenges and promises. My friends are the joy. It is my endless cups of chai with them that keeps the spirit fresh to work. This has not been an easy book to write. It has raised doubts, and opened challenges many of which I know I could not meet. It is a book with many, many wants unfulfilled. I realize that had I known what I was getting into I would never have had the courage to begin it; but now as I sign out, I do feel somewhat comforted in the thought that being the first book on this theme in India it will perhaps invite geographers to carry the baton forward. I hope it opens up this possibility. No theme is trivial for research; none is greater or lesser than the other. All issues are equal. What matters is the passion with which they are pursued and the truth they unravel. The simple, the everyday, the common, the unnoticed is what we live, reach and call out most. And it is within these concerns that falls:

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The Name of a Place. I believe the interpretations behind place names is worth offering; mapping place names of India is a worthy venture. It takes a family to nurture a book. Mine is extra-special. While my friends provide the cheer, my family is ever so dear. My parents not only free me from daily chores but also create an ecology where writing is a healing. The book is nurtured in the ecosystem of a Sunehra Ghar.

Note 1 See Appendix 1.A.

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Appendix 1.A: Statewise references of research articles on place names in India, 1980–2016 Andhra Pradesh Begam, S. R., and V. Ravindra Reddy. (2016). Identification of Munda Rashtra: An onomastic study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 29–32. Chandrashekhar, T. (2016). Cultural ethnography of Gollas of Guntur District – Study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 96–103. Reddy, V. M. (2016). Place names with historical significance from coastal Andhra (from earliest times to 1323 A.D.). Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 104–111. Nayak, S. P. (2014). Rivers, Streams and Canals in Andhra: Gleaned through Epigraphy (500–1000 A.D). Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 50–63. Reddy, V. M. (2014). Place names of Kadapa District of Andhra Pradesh: A case study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 35–39. Sastry, C. A. P. (2009). Telugu place, personal surnames:An observation. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 33. Sastry, C. A. P. (2003). Place names in the Vishnukundi Charter of Vikramendravarman. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 136. Visveswaran, R. (2003). The name Puttaparthi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 165. Reddy, P. B. (2000). Identification of place names from Simhachalam inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 68–73. Sathyamurthy, T. (2000). Srisailam: Place name in Tevaram hymns. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15–17. Sharma, M. J. (2000). A note on Sriparvata and Sriparvatiya. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 42–45. Sobhanbabu, E. (2000). Place names of Puttur Mandal. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 74–79. Reddy, P. G. (1998). Place names of Nellore District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 46–50. Reddy, T. S. (1994). Historical geography of Kurnool District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 74–79. Hussain, S. S. (1992). A note on Tarkhanpet – A fortified village in Medak District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 66–67. Sarma, A. V. D. (1991). Jain Place Names of Andhra Pradesh: A study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 42–50. Sastry, C. A. P. (1990). Place names of Tamil derivatives in Andhra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 72–75. Lincon, B. A. (1990). Place names of Bapatla Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 26–30. Naidu, G. (1989). Village names with names of castes and tribes in Anantapur District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 78–85. Rao, T. S. V. P. (1989). Vegetable-oriented Telugu place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 66–70. Kanaka, P. S. (1989). A note on place name: Ghantasala. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 86–89. Rao, P. N. (1987). Placename study in Telugu. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 128–132. Dectective, D. K. (1987). A note on the place names of Divi Taluk, Krishna District, A. P. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 204–206. Balagangadharam, J. B. (1987). The significance of some border place names of Vizianagaram District. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 207–213.

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Detective, D. K. (1986). Infuence of Krishna River on the place names of Divi Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 80–81. Sarma, A. V. D. (1986). Buddhist place names of Andhra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 103–107. Sastry, C. A. P. (1986). Study of a few personal and place names in Andhra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 119–123. Sastry, P. V. P. (1986). Place names and chronology in Andhra Pradesh. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 38–49. Rajyasree, P. (1986). Some descriptives of place names of Krishna District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 47–50. Rao, N. (1984). Renaming in Telugu place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 71–86. Sastry, P. V. P. (1984). Study of some place names in coastal Andhra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 14–23. Kotraiah, C. T. M. (1984). Note on renaming of Cheluvindla Village. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 22–23. Reddy, A. R. R. and P. Y. Raju., (1989). Value of geography to culture denotative: A case study of toponym of Narayananelluru. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 140–149. Venkatesha. (1984). The origin of the place name Mantralaya. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 81–83. Reddy, D. C. (1982). The Telugu suffix ‘-Manchi’ in place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 100–102. Sastry, C. A. P. (1982). Study of some place names in Telugu inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 70–72. Mangalam, S. J. (1980). Economic toponymy of Ancient Andhra Pradesh. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 75–84. Reddy, A. R. R. (1980). Paidipalle: A toponym. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 28–41.

Arunachal Pradesh Phukan, S. K. (2000). Place names of Nocte. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 56–67.

Assam Phukan, S. (2003). Onomastics among the TaiPhakes of Assam. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 111. Phukan, S. K. (1998). Place names in Assam of botanical origin. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 72–88.

Chhattisgarh Sharma, R. (2013) Sirpur. Studies in Indian Place Names, 33, 88–92. Mahajan, M. (2000). Donee Brahmana community of Ancient Chattisgarh. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 80–92.

Delhi Khwaja, G. S. (2001). Journey from Indraprastha to New Delhi: A place-name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 36–42.

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Place names

Goa Suryawanshi, D. A., and S. D. Pawar. (2013). Goa: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 33, 72–87. Gokhale, C. S. and R. N. (1994). Influence of Portuguese on place naming in Goa. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 107–116.

Gujarat Gore, R. V. (2014). Trading between Bharuch and East West. Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 40–49. Jamidar, R. (2010). Place-names of the districts and taluks of Gujarat. Studies in Indian Place Names, 29, 48–66. Prakash, J. (2005). Places named after the Kalachuri rulers. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume, 1–4. Jamidar, R. (2004). Pol: A unique residential place in Gujarat. Studies in Indian Place Names, 24, 27–42. Thosar, H. S. (1997). Place names from the Sanjeli Plates. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 28–35. Jaiprakash. (1994). Names of Paramara rulers. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 148. Ganam, N. M. (1987). Place names of Gujarat during Sultanate Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 74–81. Ganam, N. M. (1986). Mahudha – A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 59–60. Desai, Z. A. (1981). Identification of 18th century locality of Ahmadabad. Studies in Indian Place Names, 2, 17–19. Desai, Z. A. (1980). Identification of Jharand in Gujarat. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 57–61.

Haryana Kumar, M., and J. Prasad. (1992). Settlement pattern and the nature of place-names in Rohtak City of Haryana. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 10–12. Vidyalankar, J. (1987). Toponomy of villages and hamlets in Haryana. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 53–56. Kumar, M. (1984). Toponymic aspects of the archaeological sites in Kurukshetra District (Haryana). Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 24–31.

Jammu and Kashmir Singh, Y. B. (1986). Some eponymous legends of Jammu Region analyzed. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 56–60. Deambi, B. K. K. (1984). Some place names in Sarada inscriptions.Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 37–45.

Jharkhand Jharikhanda and Jhadakhanda of the Medieval epigraphic and Puranic texts

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Karnataka Dhanaraj, M. S. (2014) Toponomy of Marathikoppalu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 19–25. Dhanaraj, M. S.(2016). Marmahalli-origin of the village name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 33–36. Viswanatha. (2016). Place name studies of Hassan District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 125–129. Nagaraju, D. M. (2014). Hydrological place names of the Vijayanagara Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 64–70. Ritti, S. H. (2013). A Word about the name Talakadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 33, 105–106. Patil, V. L. (2012). Inscription based place names in Bailhongal Taluk of North Karnataka Region. Studies in Indian Place Names, 32, 24–32. Rajashekharappa, B. (2012). Multiple names connected with Chitradurga: A comp­ rehensive study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 32, 67–92. Nagaraju, D. M. (2012). The Agraharas during Vijayanagara period.Studies in Indian Place Names, 31, 140–149. Murthy, P. N. N. (2012). The Tuluva royal epithets. Studies In Indian Place Names, 31, 35–57. Murthy, P. N. N. (2012). A Note on the epithet ‘Patti-Pombuchcha’. Studies in Indian Place Names, 31 , 87–101. Nagaraju, D. M. (2011). The suffixes Kere and Samudra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 30, 70–83. Yegnaswami, J. (2012). ‘Halasuru’: A significant name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 31, 102–115. Thakur, P. (2009). Patterns of names of various suburbs of Vijayanagar – A capital during 14th to 16th century. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 25. Nagaraju, D. M. (2007). Naming of the places in Vijaynagara Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 149. Kodagunti, B. (2005). Yamnammunnal: A renamed place name in Maski. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 67. Murthy, A. V. N. (2005). Place names ending with Kavalu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 116–123. Pendakur, G. (2005). Salu Muruhalli: A unique place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 71. Rao, K. V. (2005). Place names of Upper Krishna Valley. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 97–102. Murthy, A. V. N. (2005). A note on the place name Sringeri. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume, 224–228. Nagaraju, D. M. (2005). Places of North Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume, 35–38. Khandpekar, N. M. (2004). Nomenclature of Some Konkan Ports. Studies in Indian Place Names, 24, 11–17. Ramesh, S. C. (2004). Teerthahalli: Place name study.Studies in Indian Place Names, 24, 111–118. Suresh, K. M. (2004). Noted place names during Vijayanagara Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 24, 101–110. Nagaraju, D. M. (2003). Adavanidurga and Rayadurga-Sime. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 154.

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Thosar, H. S. (2003). Identification of Suvarnagiri and Isila. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 157. Sampath, M. D. (2002). Chalukya administrative divisions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 83–86. Havalaiah, N., and Lokesha. (2001). The place names of Pandavapura Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 76–79. Nagaraju, D. M. (2001). Adavanidurga and Rayadurga-Simas. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 95–96. Quddusi, M. I. (2001). Ustadabad (Gogi) as a place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 56–63. Bhoir, R. (2000). Impact of Kannada on the inscriptional place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 9–14. Krishnamurthy, P. V. (1998). Anegondi and Kishkinda. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 51–54. Katragadda, L. (1997). A study of some place names of Vijayanagara Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 94–97. Murthy, P. V. K. (1994). Hommalige Nadu and some of its place names – A study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 103–106. Bhat, U. R. (1993). Some Sanskritised Tulu place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 109–112. Nagaraju, D. M. (1993). Talakadu – A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14), 127–128. Panneraselvam, R. (1993). The place names in the personal names in Karnataka. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 154–160. Shetty, B. V. (1993). Barakanuru-Barahakanyapura-Barakuru – A study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 99–102 Vishwanath, V. (1993). Classification of place names of Sakleshpur. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 106–108. Kotraiah, C. T. M. (1992). Note on the place-name Barakuru. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 75–79. Kulkarni, A. (1992). Some more deity-based village names from Athani Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 29–37. Murthy, A. V. N. (1992). Place name prefixes Hosa and Hale in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 96–103. Nagaraju, D. M. (1992). Yelandur-A Place-Name. 13, 94–95. Shanmugam, P. (1992). Place-names with ‘Puram’ suffix in the Vijayanagara Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 46–48. Kulkarni, A. (1991). Some deity-based place names in Athani Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 61–68. Murthy, P. N. N. (1991). Study of some place names of Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 109–113. Nagaraju, D. M. (1991). Nanjangud i.e. Garalapuri. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 146–147. Ramulu, A. (1991). Biligiri Ranga or Svetadri Srinivasa. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 136–138. Thosar, H. S. (1991). Konkana, Sapta-Konkana and Aparanta. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 22–30. Bhande, Vaijayantha. (1990). Chalukya – An onomastic study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 56–57. Bhat, H. R. R. (1990). Identification of two place-names mentioned in the Banavasi Kadamba inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 94–97.

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Murthy, P. N. N. (1990). Chikkamagalur – Study of a place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 36–38. Swamy, N. N. (1990). Raravi: An interesting place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 90–93. Thosar, H. S. (1990). Pre-Kalyana capitals of the later Chalukyas. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 11–18. Bhat, P. R. (1989). Some Tulu place names in Sumadhva-Vijaya. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 60–65. Brahmananda, H. S. (1989). The place value of Tanda-A Banjara settlement. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 44–54. Kasinathan, N. (1989). Place names from the Hero-Stone inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 90–93. Murthy, P. N. N. (1989). Identification of Kadamba Triparvata. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 94–98. Sampath, M. D. (1989). Place Kakati and its importance. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 108–111. Upadhyaya, S. P. (1989). Place names in Tulu folk literature. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 24–33. Kotraiah, C. T. M. (1987). Hampe-Vijyanagara, names through history. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 65–70. Murthy, P. N. N. (1987). The Suffix Angadi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 63–64. Rama, M. (1987). Placename studies in Karnataka. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 141–146. Sampath, M. D. (1986). Study of place and personal names of North Kanara. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 141–148. Bhat, H. R. R. (1986). Identification of place names mentioned in the Varuna inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 96–100. Indira, R. (1986). A sociological study of Agrahara place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 87–95. Nagaraju, D. M. (1984). Lakshmesvara – A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 104–106. Rajamani, M. B. (1984). Katavapragiri – A sociological study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 59–63. Chandraiah, B. N. (1984). A study of some place names in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 83–86. Patel, R. (1984). Some place names in Hassan District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 71–73. Gai, G. S. (1984). Studies in ancient geography of Karnataka-IV. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 104–106. Jambunathan, M. V. (1984). The toponym Maddur. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 96–97. Gai, G. S. (1984). Studies in ancient geography of Karnataka-III. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 127–129. Bhat, P. R. (1984). “Sivalli” – A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 134–139. Rajapurohit, B. B. (1984). Distribution of Halli and Pura suffixes in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 119–122. Sethuraman, N. (1984). Tribhuvanamahadevi Chaturvedimangalam. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 58–60. Abhishankar, K. (1982). Origin of certain place names of Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 20–24. Bhadri, K. M. (1982). Some interesting place names in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 73–77.

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Bhat, H. R. R. (1982). Balligave: A toponym. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 85–88. Katti, M. N. (1982). Names of some dynasties and rulers of Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 128–130. Kotraiah, C. T. M. (1982). Tirumaladevi Pattana, Present Hospet near Hampi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 53–57. Kulli, J. (1982). Some place names of Bijapur and Gulbarga Area. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 46–52. Venkatesha. (1982). Some important place names in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 67–69. Shanmugam, P. (1982). Vijayanagara influence on Tamil Nadu place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 92–94. Gai, G. S. (1981). Studies in ancient geography of Karnataka-II. Studies in Indian Place Names, 2, 8–12. Katti, M. N. (1981). Numerical territorial divisions in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 2, 65–72. Rajapurohit, B. B. (1981). Distribution of Suffix-Uru in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 2, 28–35. Gai, G. S. (1980). Studies in ancient geography of Karnatak. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 20–27. Gowda, D. J. (1980) Some street-names of Mysore City. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 9–19. Kemtur, R. (1980). A few interesting place-names of Tulunadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 49–56. Murthy, P. N. N. (1980). Identification of the village Kiruniralli. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 85–87. Rajapurohit, B. B. (1980). Regional features in naming places in Karnataka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 62–69.

Kerala Gopikrishnan, G. (2007). Sanskritisation of place names in Medieval Kerala literature. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 16–28. Nanarayanan, M. G. S. (2005). Colloquial forms of place names and proper names in Kerala. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 103–111. Pankaja, N. (1997). Trayodasa Tirupatis of Malai-Nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 67. Sampath, M. D. (1994). Identification of Kodungolur and Vanchi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 130. Sathyamurthy, T. (1994). Kovikanti to Quilandy. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 51. Gopalakrishnan, N. (1993). Kollam and Kotunnallur: A toponymical account. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 116–123. Govindan, C. (1993). Place names in Palghat District and their historical significance. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 12–18. Mallesery, S. R. (1993). A structural analysis of placenames in Malayalam. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 193–207. Vilakkudi, R. (1993). Humour in Malayalam place names. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 79–82. Sankaranarayanan, K. C. (1993). Some place names of Palghat District. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 19–22.

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Vaidyanathan, K. S. (1993). Some names particularly relative to Kerala and Kongu. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 138–146. Valath, V. V. K. (1993). Jaina influence on some Kerala place names. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 64–68. Gopalkrishnan, N. (1987). Ay Dynasty in Kerala History and Toponymical evidences. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 287–290. Joseph, P. M. (1987). Prakrit influence on Kerala placenames. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 168–184. Nampoothiry, E. E. (1987). Placenames mentioned in the Sanskrit Sandesakavyas of Kerala. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 217–223. Nampoothiry, N. M. (1987). Placename studies in Malayalam. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 133–140. Nayar, B. K. (1987). Kerala Place names and North Indian surnames. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 266–271. Rajendren, V. (1987). Place name glossary of Kerala – Some lexicographical problems. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 115–118. Nampoothiry, N. M. (1984). Place name studies in Kerala. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 69–73. Varier, M. R. R. (1984). Some aspects of Sanskritisation of place names in Kerala. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 28–36. Varier, M. R. R. (1982) Some place names in and around Calicut suggesting salt industry. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 39–45.

Lakshadweep Varier, M. R. R. (2003). A note on the Palli Generic in the place names of Androth and Kalpeni Islands. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 122.

Madhya Pradesh Prakash, J. (1998). Two place names from Madhya Pradesh. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 100–103. Mahajan, M. (1997). Topographical features of the Kalachuris of Tripuri. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 17. Gokhale, C. S. (1992). An engineered analysis of composition and nomenclature of Mohallas in Gwalior City. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 56–63. Prakash, J. (1991). Places named after the Chandella rulers. 12, 133–135. Sagar, A. P. (1984). Some place names associated with ancient times in Central India. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 31–37. Prakash, J. (1986). Some place names occurring in the inscriptions of Paramaras. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 69–72. Bajpai, K. D. (1981). Some place-names of the Sanchi inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 2, 13–16.

Maharashtra Suryawanshi, D. A., and S. D. Pawar. (2016). Mumbai’s few railway stations: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 77–90.

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Suryawanshi, D. A., and S. D. P. (2014). Satara: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 96–103. Kodilkar, R. (2013). Jawhar: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 33, 93–96. Ranade, A. K. (2013). Some villages in Shatshashti-vishaya. Studies in Indian Place Names, 33, 62–71. Kodilkar, R. (2012). Mahur – A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 32, 40–45. Suryawanshi, D. A., S. D. Pawar, and P. Patkar. (2012). Trimbakesvar: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 32, 57–60. Karmakar, D. (2012). Understanding place names in ‘Mahikavati’s Bakhar’: A case of Mumbai-Thane region. Studies in Indian Place Names, 31, 116–139. Suryawanshi, D. A., and S. D. Pawar. (2012). Nasik: A name place study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 31, 82–86. Samel, S. (2011). Geographical renaming of the streets in the Mumbai. Studies in Indian Place Names, 30, 134–142. Karmakar, D. (2009). Understanding place names in historical geography: A case of Vasai. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 60–90. Yegnaswami, J. (2007). Mumbadevi, the deity behind the name of Bombay. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 29–40. Thosar, H. S. (2005). The identification of Sriparnika. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume, 209–223. Thosar, H. S. (2004). Identification of Svetagiri or Svetapatha. Studies in Indian Place Names, 24, 18–22. Bhoir, R. (2002). Place names occuring in the inscriptions of Traikutakas and Mauryas of Konkan. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 63–67. Thosar, H. S. (2002). Identification of Balipattana. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 23–36. Shastri, A. M. (2001). Sabharashtra: Fresh evidence from a Vakataka inscription. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 24–27. Thosar, H. S. (2000). Pandharpur and the Varkari Sect. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 30–41. Quddusi, M. Y. (1998). Shahpur of Berar. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 43–45. Khaire, V. (1997). Nanaghat: A name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 36. Quddusi, M. Y. (1997). Origin and development of Kamptee. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 25. Thosar, H. S. (1996). Royal seats of the Vakatakas. Studies in Indian Place Names, 16. Thosar, H. S. (1996). Geography of Ellora. Studies in Indian Place Names, 16, 103. Bhoir, R. (1994). Historical geography of Thana. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 90–95. Holkar, K. B. (1994). ‘Summit’: The name of the railway station. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 146–147. Thosar, H. S. (1994). Historical geography of Ellora. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 136–140. Holkar, K. B. (1993). Some place-names in Pune City. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 83–87. Quddusi, M. Y. (1993). Origin and development of Rauza as a distinctive village. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 121–126. Thosar, H. S. (1993). Puri through inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 36–46. Khaire, V. (1990). Place-names in Maharashtra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 45–53.

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Holkar, K. B. (1989). Names of rivers, tanks and hills in Daund Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 55–59. Ravishankar, T. S. (1989). Place names in the inscriptions of the Kalachuris. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 104–107. Shastri, A. M. (1989). Name of Ajanta – Modern and ancient: A re-appraisal. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 8–12. Mahajan, M. (1986). Deities by place names in Maharashtra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 124–140. Thosar, H. S. (1986). Sangvi: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 50–55. Venkatesha. (1986). Place and personal names as Gleaned from the Silahara epigraphs. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 107–109. Mahajan, M. (1984). Glimpses of topography by place names found in inscriptions from Maharashtra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 38–58. Gupta, C. (1984). Dombivali: A study of place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 24–30. Mahajan, M. (1984). Flora from place names in inscriptions found in Maharashtra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 90–99. Mahajan, M. (1982). Flora from place names in inscriptions found in Maharashtra. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 25–38. Shastri, A. M. (1980) Fresh light on the antiquity of the jaggery and sugar industry in Southern Maharashtra from place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 43–46.

Manipur Gunindro, P. (2011). Manipuri Lammitllon: Manipuri toponomy. Studies in Indian Place Names, 30, 143–154. Singh, S. B. (2009). Place naming in Manipur: Based on surnames. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 52. Singh, S. I. (2009). Place naming after occupations in Manipur. Studies in IndianPlace Names, 28, 15–20.

Meghalaya Itagi, N. H. (2009). A few incipient observations on place and personal names in Meghalaya. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 44.

Odisha Mishra, P. (2014). Territorial unit in Ancient Orissa an epigraphical study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 34, 113–127. Acharya, S. K. (2009). Toponymy of villages of Puri District.Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 99–107. Tripathy, S. (2005). Somavamsin capitals of Vinitapura-Yayatinagara. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume , 195–208. Acharya, S. K. (1994). Place names after personal names in Early Medieval Orissa. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 80 Tripathy, S. (1982). Some Bhanja and Somavamsi place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 12–19.

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Puducherry Sebastian, A. (1992). Names in Pondicherry Town. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 23–28. Sebastian, A. (1991). Street names in the Pondicherry Town. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 104–108.

Rajasthan Prakash, J. (2010). Bairath: A place-name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 29, 43–47. Khwaja, G. S. (1992). Dinjawas: A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 68–71. Ganam, N. M. (1989). Khatu: The name of the place. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 34–37. Iyer, S. S. (1986). Some place names in Rajasthan. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 73–75.

Tamil Nadu Panneraselvam, K. (2016). Vagur-Nadu and its name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 35, 91–95. Panneraselvam, K. (2012). Idaiyarrur-Nadu: A study of its name and history. Studies in Indian Place Names, 32, 110–116. Sampath, M. D. (2012). Historical significance of Sendalai Niyamam and Koviladi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 32, 61–66. Dayalan, D. (2012). Digital interpretation of place names of Early Medieval Tamil Nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 31, 58–81. Panneraselvam, K. (2012). Taniyur Brahmanical settlements of South Arcot District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 31, 150–156. Panneraselvam, K. (2011). Mudiyur-Nadu: A study of its name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 30, 155–158. Pankaja, N. (2010). Kovilur: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 29, 111–116. Panneraselvam, K. (2010). Kunrattur-nadu: A study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 29, 105–110. Rajavelu, S. (2010). Place name of Pudukkottai Region in Tamil Nadu: A study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 29, 67–96. Karuppaiah, K. (2009). Srimushnam: A Vaishnavite Tripati. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 157. Soundararajan, J. (2009). Dadapuram: A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 154. Suguneswari, A. (2009). Padal Perra Talangal of Kongu Nadu: With special reference to Tiruchengodu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 84. Devi, T. S. M. (2007). Tambraparani-Porunai: Unique bilingual parallel names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 125–154. Geetha, N. (2007). Salem: A toponomical study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 81–86. Panneraselvam, K. (2007). Tiruvennainallur-Nadu: A study of its name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 132. Sathyamurthy, T. (2005). Early Tamil literature: A toponomical survey. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 73.

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Panneraselvam, K. (2005). Tamar-Nadu: A study of its name. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume, 91–99. Amrithavalli, S. (2003). Toponymy of Kudumiyamalai. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 185. Balaji, P. D. (2003). Places in Sriperumbudur Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 169. Kalaiselvi, M. M. (2003). Toponymy of Shengottai and its surrounding villages. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23. Karuppaiah, K. (2003). Satyakshetra (Tirummeyyam). Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 175. Moi, B. J. (2003). Administrative division in the Ay Country: An epigraphical study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 191–206. Pankaja, N. (2003). Correlation between street names of Madurai and Tenkasi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 141. Panneraselvam, K. (2003). Karpundi-nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 181. Kumudavalli, S. J., and Pankaja. (2002). Physio-geography of Tambraparani river basin. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 53–62. Manohari, P. A. (2002). Place name Idaikal. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 77–78. Rajavelu, S. (2002). Impact of religion and region on two place-names in Tamilnadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 68–71. Rajeswari, N., and S. Kayarkanni. (2002). Karivalamvandanallur: A place name study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 72–76. Sevakumaran, M. S. (2002). Place names gleaned from Nellaiappar Temple inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 44–52. Chandravanam, C. (2001). Uttara Kosamangai and Grant Villages: A study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 88–91. Lalitha, P. M. (2001). Place name: Cooum. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 80–84. Pankaja, N. (2001). Mercantile places of Kongu-nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 92–94. Pankaja, N. (2000). Tirukkoyilur: A place of historical importance. Studies in Indian Place Names, 20, 97–100. Chandrasekaran, P. (1998). Early Pandya place names. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 60–64. Karuppaiah, K. (1998). Sakkaramallur: A mercantile settlement. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 97–99. Pankaja, N. (1998). Places of Nanguneri Region. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 104–107. Quddusi, M. I. (1998). Natharnagar and Qadirnagar. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 35–42. Sampath, M. D. (1998). Kattur: A merchant guild centre. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 89–96. Sherif, M. (1998). Place names during the Navayath and Wallajahi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 18, 55–59. Chandrasekaran, P. (1997). Tennari Nadu: Its village and culture. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 46. Lalitha, P. M. (1996). Religious place-names in Tamil Country. Studies in Indian Place Names, 16, 63–67. Karuppaiah, K. (1994). Manamadurai: A place-name study. 15, 141–145.

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Rajavelu, S. (1994). Place names of the Cholas Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 152. Sankaran, K. R. (1994). The nomenclature of water resources in Pudukkottai Region. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 100–102. Chandrakumar, T. (1993). Belief and symbolism in the formation of place name structure: A case study of Vrddhacalam. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 43–47. Jayaraman, N. (1993). Place names in Palani area. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 161–168. Meenakshisundaram, M. (1993). Place name study of Chaturvedhamangalam. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 135–137. Mukilan, P. P. (1993). A study of place names with -Pakkam suffix found in inscriptions. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 151–153. Nagarajan, Kasturi. (1993). Place names of Ambasamudram Region. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 88–93. Pankaja, N. (1993). Vaishnavaite centres of Pandya Country. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 65–69. Perumal, A. K. (1993). Toponomy of Alahiyapandiyapuram. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 110–115. Pillai, C. S. (1993). Field names in Kanyakumari District. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 27–42. Pulavar, S. R. (1993). Kongu in Sangam times: A toponomical study. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 147–150. Rajavelu, S. (1993). Place names of Vellore Taluk. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 113–115. Raju, P. S. (1993). Palani: Its toponomy and historical significance. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 103–105. Sampath, M. D. (1993). An Ancient Pandyan township. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 116–120. Thangathurai, S. (1993). Lathivadi. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 102–105. Varadasundari, A. (1993). Dharapuram: A place name study. Studies in Dravidian Place Names, 169–173. Basavalingam, M. (1992). The place name Udagamangalam: A Study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 72–74. Karuppaiah, K. (1992). Karisulndamangalam: A place name in Pandya Country. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 108–110. Mulley, P. K. (1992). A fresh look at some place names of Nilgiris. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 18–22. Muthuswamy, S. (1992). Places with caste names in Tirunelveli District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 53–55. Rajavelu, S. (1992). Cholapuram: A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 111–112. Deivanayagam, G. (1991). Place name study of Thanjai and Karandai. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 92–97. Edmunds, T. (1991). Tarangampadi: Place name as found in Dutch, German and Danish Records: An Analysis. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 83–86. Kandaswamy, S. P. (1991). Commercial impact of place-names in the Kongu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 87–91. Kandaswamy, S. P. (1991). Pastoral impact on place names in the Kongu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 16–21. Krishnan, A. (1991). Trilingual Dharmapuri District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 79–82.

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Sampath, M. D. (1991). Place and personal names figuring in a Pandya Charter. Studies in Indian Place Names, 12, 129–132. Desikan, V. N. S. (1990). Place names From Kaveripakkam inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 41–44. Rajavelu, S. Historical geography of Palayanur-Tiruvalangadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11 (1990), 58–61. Raju, S. (1990). Some place names in the Salem District. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 39–40. Reddy, C. M. (1990). Various names of the City of Tiruvannamalai. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 31–32. Srinivasan, C. R. (1990). Some place names in Madras. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 98–102. Swaminathan, S. (1990). A study of names as gleaned from Chola inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 62–66. Vaidyanathan, K. S. (1990). The countries of Batoi and Toringoi mentioned by Ptolemy. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 81–89. Swaminathan, S. (1989). Some place names of Gudiyattam Region. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 99–103. Bhagavathy, K. (1987). The suffix -Puram. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 291–294. Karuppaiah, K. (1987). Some place names of the Pandya Country. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 106–109. Nainer, M. (1987). Toponymy of Tamil Nadu. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 123–127. Raman, M. K. (1987). A Survey of placenames in Tamil literature especially in manuscripts. Perspectives in Place Name Studies, 214–216. Shanmugam, P. (1987). Place-names occuring in Tamil–Brahmi inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 59–62. Sampath, M. D. (1987). Nava-Tirupatis on the bank of Tamraparni River. Studies in Indian Place Names, 9, 92–101. Sethuraman, N. (1986). Panchavan: The Pandya. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 124–129. Venkatesan, P. (1986). Sukkanpundi, a tribal village name referred to in an inscription of Kongu Vira Pandya (1265–85 A.D.). Studies in Indian Place Names, 8, 108–112. Thyagarajan, L. (1986). Place name study of Takkolam as Gleaned from inscriptions and literature. Studies in Indian Place Names, 7, 42–46. Jeyechandran, A. V. (1984). Significance of the street names of Madurai. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 99–103. Srinivasan, K. R. (1984). Ayirapati/Ayiravati – Ancient Darasuram. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 1–13. Venkatesan, P. (1984). A note on Rajamalla Chaturvedimangalam. Studies in Indian Place Names, 6, 87–89. Devi, T. S. M. (1984). Courtallam: An antique place with modernised name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 38–40. Raju, S. (1984). Names of some places changed by passage of time in Periyar District of Tamil Nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 41–42. Subhramanian, S. V., and Bhagavati. (1984). Plant – Place names in Tamil. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 15–21. Tirumalai, R. (1984). Posala Vira-Somideva-Chaturvedimangalam. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 49. Sampath, M. D. (1984). Historical geography and study of place-names figuring in Pandya Inscriptions. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 52–57.

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Srinivasan, C. R. (1984). Some interesting pseudo and real place names of Tamil Nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 4, 130–133. Sethuraman, N. (1982). Cholantaka Chaturvedimangalam. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 89–91. Srinivasan, K. R. (1982). Madurai: The name of the place. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 58–61. Sethuraman, N. (1981). Kumbakonam and Darasuram. Studies in Indian Place Names, 36–39. Srinivasan, K. R. (1981). Nan Mada-k-Kudal (Madurai): A note. Studies in Indian Place Names, 2, 40–42. Balambal, V. (1980). Paluvur and Paluvettaraiyars. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 73–74. Katti, M. N. (1980). A Note on Kannadaballi: A village in Tamil Nadu. Studies in Indian Place Names, 1, 97–98.

Telengana Thosar, H. S. (1992). Royal seats of the Satavahanas. Studies in Indian Place Names, 13, 38–45. Thosar, H. S. (1989). Identification of Asmaka and Mulaka. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 13–16.

Uttar Pradesh Dubey, A. K., and D. P. Dubey. (2011). Varanasi in the Gahadavala Period. Studies in Indian Place Names, 30, 84–107. Prakash, J. (2009). Mandora: A place name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 28, 166. Vasanthi, S. T. (2007). ‘Kalinjar’: An epithet of Lord ‘Siva’. Studies in Indian Place Names, 27, 118. Prakash, J. (2005). Gorakhpur: A place-name. Studies in Indian Place Names, Silver Jubilee Volume, 121–130. Prakash, J. (2003). Kannauj: A place-name. Studies in Indian Place Names, 23, 207–219. Prakash, J. (2002). Place name: Allahabad. Studies in Indian Place Names, 22, 37–43. Prakash, J. (2001). Two place-names from Uttar Pradesh: Deogadh and Kalinjar. Studies in Indian Place Names, 21, 43–49. Prakash, J. (1997). Place names: Garhwal and Jhansi. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 77–79. Saini, R. S. (1993). Antiquity of Hotharasa. Studies in Indian Place Names, 14, 62–64. Jindal, M. S. (1990). Kashi cities in the world. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 54–55. Tandon, M. (1984). Braj Mandal. Studies in Indian Place Names, 5, 66–70. Tandon, M. (1982). Madhuvana. Studies in Indian Place Names, 3, 82–84.

West Bengal Thapa, R. (2005). Pattern of place names of Darjeeling Hill. Studies in Indian Place Names, 26, 50–63. Bandyopadhyay, S. (1997). Kalikata: An etymological study. Studies in Indian Place Names, 17, 80–91.

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Bandyopadhyay, S. (1994). Etymology of Tamralipta. Studies in Indian Place Names, 15, 44. Mukherjee, B. N. (1990). Place name to surname in ‘Bengal’. Studies in Indian Place Names, 11, 9–10. Bandyopadhyay, D. (1989). Etymology of Medinipur. Studies in Indian Place Names, 10, 17–23.

2 NATION’S NAMES

The first Article of the Constitution of India states that ‘India that is Bharat, shall be a union of states’. The catalogue of country names prepared by the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names carries three names for India. First is the country name: India; then, within a column called ‘short name’, appears the name Bharat and a third, which is the formal name, is the Republic of India or Bharatiya Ganarajya. One nation, with a variety of names.

India: A name from the river The name of the country, India, is based on the name of the river Sindh. The origin of the name, India, is not a recent occurrence. In fact, the name evolved and worked its way through many forms and pronunciations before stabilizing in its present disposition. A simple trajectory or a linear path cannot be traced to describe how the name Sindh turned into India. What does the word Sindh mean? Sindh is a Sanskrit word, generically derived from syand, which means to flow. The name Sindh appropriately captures the function and role. To call it the River Sindh would be stating the obvious, like saying the river flows. A river, after all, is defined as water that is flowing. Why and how did the name Sindh metamorphose into the name India? The name Sindh resonates in the name of the country because of the location of the river on the borders of India. Here we are talking of the India prior to 1947, an India that was not partitioned to give birth to another country called Pakistan (see Figure 2.1). In terms of its physical dimensions, the Sindh has a length of 3,180 kilometres and is one of the longest rivers in Asia. Originating in the snows of Kailash Ranges in Tibet, Sindh first flows north-west for about half of its length and then makes a bend southward and travels across the plains of Punjab to meet the

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FIGURE 2.1 The

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Sapta-Sindhu.

Source: Compiled by author.

Arabian Sea at the port city of Karachi. Augmenting the dominance of its ‘S’ shape are the tributaries Kabul and Kurram on the right bank, while on its left bank are the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. It is the direction and obstruction of the Sindh that makes it a force to be reckoned with. In the case of India, its presence is bold and strong. This is not only because of its length and massive volume and flow but more to do with its alignment as the boundary of North-West India. So large is its size, so vast is its spread and so strategic is its direction of flow that the people who came to invade and conquer India could not overlook or avoid the Sindh. The people who were making their journey to India – be they merchants, invaders or travellers – made their first contact with land on the right bank of the Sindh. It was a river that in no way could be avoided or bypassed. The Greeks, the Arabs, the Turks, the Mughals, all were forced to halt at its bank, stare at its flow, and speak the name Sindh before they could move across it. The stock of people who came into India spoke different languages and so each heard and pronounced the name Sindh peculiarly to their ear and tongue. During the time of Pāṇini, fifth century bce, the river was called Sindhu and the regions on its banks were called the Sapta-Sindhiva, thus referring to its seven tributaries. In the dictionaries of Vedic Sanskrit, ‘sa’ was pronounced as ‘ha’. With time, Sapta Sindhu became Hapta Hindu. Even in the Zoroastrian sacred book of Avesta, the sound ‘s’ corresponds to the sound ‘h’. The name for India in Avesta, is Hindu, which, like the old Persian Hi(n)du, is derived from Sanskrit ‘Sindhu’. Here is another example: The Persian dynasty of the Achaemenids were linguistically incapable of pronouncing ‘s’ and so changed it to ‘h’. This is evident in an inscription of the mid-sixth century at Naqsh-e Rustam (an ancient necropolis

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of the Achaemenid dynasty in the Fars Province, Iran), where the name Hi(n)du is etched in rock. The Greeks changed it further. Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya, recorded the region as Indos (Indus) by dropping the initial ‘h’ and ending it with ‘s’. Ending place names with ‘s’ was a common practice of Greek chroniclers and hence we come across Indus kingdoms such as Musikanus, Oxykanus, Portikanus, to mention a few. From Greek chronicles the name Indus crept into Latin and then to Old English and French, which resulted in their own versions of Inde and Ynde (Talpur, 2012). The name ‘India’ spread from its original application, as denoting the country on the banks of the Sindhu, to the whole peninsula extending to the Ganges. Ptolemy described India on the criteria of the known and the unknown parts. To him known India or True India was the ‘India within the Ganges’ and the unknown areas were the darker regions, which he called ‘India beyond the Ganges’ (McCrindle, 1885). The Arabs, like the Greeks, adopted the Persian term Al-Hind: In a political-geographical sense, ‘India’ or al-Hind, throughout the medieval period, was an Arab or Muslim conception. The Arabs, like the Greeks, adopted a pre-existing Persian term, but they were the first to extend its application to the entire Indianized region from Sind and Makran to the Indonesian Archipelago and mainland Southeast Asia. (Wink, 1996) Today India is a country of 3.287 million square kilometres, stretching 3,232 kilometres from north to south and 2,950 kilometres from west to east at its widest points. Only the upper course of Sindh falls within its territorial jurisdiction, yet the name India endures. Even after the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, India chose to retain its historic name. The irony is that, at one time, the name Sindh lent its name to ‘India’; now the name Sindh has been replaced with the name Indus, which comes from India. In the atlases of today, Sind is the name of a province in Pakistan, next to the river Indus. When India gained independence, the name India was glued to the imagination of the world. Many would think of it is an English name; but its origin is associated with a river, which once flowed on the boundary of undivided India. The United Nations Group of Experts has called India by the short name Bharat. The Constitution of India addresses the country as India that is Bharat. India in the scriptures has been called Bharata.

Bharata: A name from the scriptures The name Bharata invites several conjectures. In the Jain religion, a tirthankara is the one who has conquered the saṃsara, the eternal cycle of death and rebirth, and preaches dharma, the righteous path in life. As per the Jain traditions, the first tirthankara was Rishabhanatha; Bharata was his son. Hence, to the Jains is

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given the credit for the name of the country. In support of the association of the name with the Jains, is the claim that before the country was called Bharatavarṣa, it was known as Nabhivarṣa. King Nabhi was the father of Rishabhanatha and grandfather of Bharata ( Jain, 2015). The expression Bharata, meaning ‘progeny of Bharat’, is also ascribed to the name of a tribe and Bharata was their land. In the Ramayana, the famous epic of the country, Bharata was the brother of the protagonist Rama and the second son of Dasharatha. The legend goes that when Rama was exiled to the forest for 14 years, Bharata functioned as the proxy king of Ayodhya. He placed Rama’s sandals on the royal throne and neither did he sit on the throne nor did he crown himself king. The name Bharata is associated with the name of this king. The name Bharata is embedded in the title of the country’s most famous epic, the Mahabharata. In the epic, the origin of the name Bharata is linked with Dushyanta, the king of Hastinapur (today it is the name of a city in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh). The legend is as follows: Dushyanta and Shakuntala had a son named Bharata. The latter went on to become emperor of the country, and thus the name Bharata. What does the name Bharata mean? Rooted in the Sanskrit word ‘bhr’ which means ‘to bear or carry’, it is therefore a land that gives birth and nourishes. Since the root bhr is cognate with the English verb to bear and Latin ferō, the term is also explained as ‘one who is engaged in search for knowledge’. There are other interpretations of this name: In the Shatapatha Brahmana, a text that belongs to the sixth century bce, Bharat is a designation of the gods Agni (fire) and Vayu (wind). This treatise also associates the name with Bharatah Aditiyah, a name for the Sun. Yāska, a Sanskrit grammarian who preceded Pāṇini, in his dictionary of the words in the Vedas, lists the word Bharata as a synonym of priest. Some scholars trace the roots of Bharata in ‘bhri’, that is, to support or nourish. An inscription from the sixth century bce, etched on a cliff on Mount Behistan in Iran reads: ‘Su-bhritam’, in the sense of one who is well-rewarded and respected. This meaning of the root bhri is supported by references in the Rig Veda: ‘Who holds brihaspati in high esteem, praises him and salutes him’. The proper name Bharata thus means one who is highly respected (Pathak, 1987). Historically it is possible that the name Bharat was kept because it was a country that had earned wide recognition, admiration and respect. Often attached to the name Bharata is the suffix varsa. The term varsa means a division of the earth, or a continent. Bharatavarṣa is thus a name that distinguishes it from other varṣas or continents (Pargiter, 1922). India has six ritus or seasons, of which the rainy season is most important (because majority of the population is engaged in agriculture). It is referred to as varsa ritu. The latter comes from the word Ṛta, which literally means the ‘order or course of things’. Putting it together, varsa ritu is the rainy season that arrives in a regular manner. So regulated and on time is the season, that the Arabs called the rainy season ‘mawsim’, meaning ‘appropriate season’ for a voyage, pilgrimage or trade. This is how varsa so naturally becomes suffix to the name of the country. The rains

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mark the year so strongly, that the age of a person is counted by the number of monsoons he or she has lived through. There were other names, which were given to this country. It was called Manudvipa or the habitat of descendants of Manu, the latter referring to the first man. As an abode of the gods, the country was named Ajanaa, a land that is difficult to know. It was also called Himavarsa, after the mighty Himalayas. For many centuries after the reign of Asoka, one does not find the term Bharatavarṣa. Thereafter the rulers of the imperial dynasties are generally described as prithivivallabha or the ‘lords of the earth’, as dig-vijaya, ‘conquering the whole earth’, or as prithivi-rajya, ‘ruling the kingdom of the earth’ or as being an imperial ruler of vast expanse or the Chakravarti-kshetra. In his treatise Arthashastra, Kautilya described Chakravarti-kshetra as the land extending north to south from the Himalayas to the sea and measuring one thousand yojanas from east to west. The name Jambudvipa was used as an alternative name for Bharatavarṣa.

Jambudvipa: A name from cosmography To comprehend the concept of Jambudvipa, one needs to gain familiarity with how the Hindu cosmographers comprehended the earth and its constituent units. In their conception, prithvi or earth consisted of seven dvipas or islands; in modern parlance these would refer to the continents. Each continent was separated from the others by an ocean; so ‘dvipa’ stood for a continent as well as an island. One among the seven continents was called Jambudvipa. It was the largest dvipa and within it was located Bharatavarṣa. According to mythology, the continent of the Jambu or Jambolan has, at the extreme limits of its territory, the land of the Bharatas, or Bharatavarṣa. Bharatavarṣa is thus a part of the Jambudvipa. Jambudvipa has been named after the Jambu tree. The Jambu or the Jambolan is a species of prune tree that can grow to majestic dimensions. Its fruit is so juicy that an alcoholic beverage is prepared from it. It grows all over India, with a dominant presence in the foothills of the Himalayas. The paternity of the expression Jambudvipa is attributed to the Jains. The origin and diffusion of Jainism resonates with the time period of its usage. Mahavira, the last of the tirthankaras of the Jain religion, was born in the sixth century bce and the name Jambudvipa was in currency by the third century bce (Deleury, 2005). The Jambuddivapannatti, a sacred text of the Jains, contains a description of Jambudvipa. It speaks of seven varsas or seven main divisions of Jambudvipa (Law, 1976). Ancient people felt the necessity of a comprehensive term for the territory extending from the Himalayas in the north to the sea in the south. The term used was Jambudvipa. The name occurs in the edicts of Emperor Asoka in the third century bce. It has been recorded in the Rupnath edict near the city of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and the Brahmagiri and Maski edicts in the Raichur district of Karnataka (Gai, 1992). It also finds a mention on an inscription in the rock cave of Karla in Maharashtra, from the first century ce (Deleury, 2005).

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Amongst all these varied titles, the two names Bharat and India are alive and used across the country. There are two major national political parties in India; one uses the word Bharat – Bharatiya Janata Party; and the other uses the word India – Indian National Congress. The former was born in independent India; the latter in colonial India. The phrase in the national anthem is ‘Bharata bhaagyavidhaata’. Passports issued by the Government of India, carry the following note: ‘Bharat Ganarajya or the Republic of Bharat’. When, in 1984, the late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi asked Commander Rakesh Sharma: ‘What does Bharat look like from space?’, his reply was: ‘Saare Jahan SeyAccha, Hindustaan hamara’. One used the word Bharat; the other the word Hindustan. Thus falls into one’s lap a third name for the nation – Hindustan!

Hindustan: A name from the Sultanate The suffix sthana in Sanskrit means place or land and, in Persian, it means a territory. So, Hindustan is the land of the Hindus. Al-Biruni, the Arab traveller to India in 1017 ce, wrote an encyclopaedic work titled Tarikh-Al-Hind (History of India). The rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire called their domain, with their capital at Delhi, Hindustan. The name Hindustan entered the English language in the seventeenth century and was used as a synonym for India. A common description was: The extensive region called Hindustan, or according to Hindu texts, Bhāratavarṣa, extends from the Himalaya Mountains in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south. Many travel narratives, historical descriptions and geographical accounts on India carry the title Hindustan. ‘At the juncture of the Greek invasion, the ascription Hindu had not yet evolved. The natives were [known as] the Vedic people who followed the practices prescribed in the Vedas’ (Deshmukh and Sarjerao, 2003). Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book Discovery of India, wrote that the earliest reference to the term Hindu was found in the Tantrik literatures of the eighth century ce. The fusing of the word Hind into person (Hindu), religion (Hinduism), language (Hindi) and a mountain (the Hindukush) seems to happen later. India is the only country in the world that has lent its name to an ocean. The Indian Ocean covers one-fifth of the water on the earth’s surface and is the third largest among world’s oceans. It is known as the Hind Mahasagar in Hindi. Today Hindustan is no longer in use as the official name for India, but one of its national daily newspapers continues with its nomenclature as the Hindustan Times. The salutary version of Hindustan, Jai Hind, is widely used and is a battle cry for the Indian Armed Forces. It is also often used by many political leaders to sign off major political speeches. The trend was probably started by Jawaharlal Nehru, with his famous speech Tryst with Destiny, delivered to the Indian Constituent Assembly in parliament towards midnight of August 14, 1947: ‘And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind!’

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In February, 1947, the British Government announced that it would end its official presence in India. The Indian Independence Bill received Royal Assent in the British Parliament on July 4, 1947. Under the Mountbatten Plan of June 1947 a decision was reached to partition the subcontinent into two dominions and a new country was added to the map of the world. It was, indeed, a historic moment when the place names of the two new entities were decided. During this event, the leaders of both the nations discussed the names for these ­constituent parts. The Constituent Assembly of India pondered names for the new-born republic like Bharat, Hindustan, Hind and Bharat bhumi or Bharatvarsh among others. India and Pakistan came into existence on August 14, 1947. Grappling with the options, in 1950 the country’s Constitution conferred two names: India that is Bharat. The diversity of the country required two names. It takes two names to explain the geography of India – the land, the rivers, the monsoons and the people and its epics. These names are quoted to represent, and differentiate between, two contrasting characteristics of this nation. Bharat is an icon for the traditional rural component, while the modern and the urban are ascribed to India. Staunch nationalists prefer the name Bharat, while the more liberal call it India. This old vs new, traditional vs modern, rural vs urban is a not a dichotomy, as both names are steeped in the history and geography of India. A debate on these names is still not buried. As recently as 2015 a Public Interest Litigation was filed to clarify the phrase ‘India that is Bharat’ and to seek to rename India as Bharat. The Supreme Court of India dismissed the petition with the verdict: ‘India will be India and Bharat will be Bharat’ (Sinha, 2016). The name of a place carries identity, legacy and history. It is for this reason that names endure. For effective administration and governance, a nation is made of many subnational units, ranging from the states and union territories, districts, down to tehsils and blocks. Since it would be difficult to put together the interpretation of the names of all these units, it is worth taking stock of the place names of the first spatial level, that is, the states and union territories of India.

3 NAMES OF THE SUBNATIONAL UNITS States and union territories

The country’s Constitution affirms that India is a union of states. It informs that: ‘The territory of India shall comprise the territories of the States, the Union territories specified in the First Schedule and such other territories as may be acquired’. A further assertion is that ‘Parliament may by law (a) form a new State (b) increase the area of any State; (c) diminish the area of any State; (d) alter the boundaries of any State, and (e) alter the name of any State’. As of 2017, India is carved into 29 states and 7 union territories. All the states enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy and have their elected legislatures while the union territories are administered by the central government. These are the subnational spatial units of India and it would be worth taking time to explore what the interpretations of their names are. A question that can be raised, is: Why should one give preference to, and focus exclusively on, the names of the subnational units? There are six reasons for this choice. First, these are the first set of names one encounters after the name of the nation and so are significant and important in the spatial hierarchy. Second, these names cover the country, and their sweep allows one to grasp the diversity and character of naming the different parts of India. Third, the importance of its subnational units can be ‘heard’ in the National Anthem of India. When the renowned poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore wrote the song ‘Janaganamana’, he included 12 place names. These are Banga, Dravida, Gujarata, Maratha (Maharashtra), Punjab, Sindh and Utkala and also the Vindhyas, the Himalayas, the Ganga and the Yamuna. Seven are names of states of India and two are of prominent mountain ranges and rivers. The song

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chooses the name Bharat to address the country. Here is the rendering, which makes a reference to these subnational units: Jana gaṇa mana adhināyakajayahē O! Dispenser of India’s destiny, thou art the ruler of the minds of all people Bhāratabhāgya Vidhātā, Pañjāba Sindh Gujarāṭa Marāṭhā Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, the Maratha country, Drāviḍa Utkala Baṅga, Vindhya Himācala Ẏamunā Gaṅgā The Dravida land, Utkala and Bengal, it echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas, it mingles in the rhapsodies of the pure waters of Yamuna and the Ganges. (Lyrics and translation by Rabindranath Tagore) It is Tagore’s ability to grasp the dimension of the country that became a guiding factor for the adoption of his poem as the national anthem of India on January 24, 1950. The fourth reason for the study of the names of the state and union territories is to find out how the state names mirror the regional self-definitions. Through names one can capture the politics of identity and the way people want to perceive and address their state. A fifth consideration, to accord due eminence to the names of states and union territories, is because these are the only place names that are discussed, deliberated and debated in the Indian Parliament. A bill for the name of a state or union territory, or, for that matter, for a change in the name, needs to be passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Finally, the sixth, and a practical consideration that guided the decision, was that collating the varied interpretations, classifying them and constructing the spatio-temporal framework meant that numbers would be kept small. It is for all these reasons that attention is given to the names of the subnational units of India.

Characteristics of the subnational place names Having set the justifications for selecting the subnational units as a scale of inquiry, one can identify five broad characteristics that need to be understood before one proceeds to put together the various interpretation of the names of states and union territories.

Names carry double names First, these subnational units are 36 in number but contain 40 place names. Held together by the word ‘and’ or ‘&’ are the four units in which reside eight place names. Double place names are often created when two distinct territories are amalgamated or merged. This is done to honour regional identity, as both can assert their presence within a composite name. Take the case of

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the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The 150-kilometre – wide Ten Degree Channel separates the Andaman and the Nicobar Islands. These represent the abodes of two different racial groups. The Negritos inhabit the former while the Mongoloids populate the latter. Nurturing different identities, the two islands nevertheless share a commonality in their historical and strategic contexts. Both are beset with a set of similar problems of development (Tripathi, 2016). While the similarities put them together, the distinctions endow them with different names. The word ‘and’ or ‘&’ bridges the conjoined names in the case of three other units: namely Jammu and Kashmir; Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Therefore, in a sense one is dealing with 40 and not with 36 names.

Names carry adjuncts A second feature of the names of these subnational units is that many of them have two or more elements apparent from the adjuncts that are part of place names. These usually come last and they carry different names and meanings. There are seven types of adjuncts attached to the names of the subnational units. These can be broadly grouped into two. The first is a generic one for the kind of place that makes a direct or indirect reference to ‘area’. In this category falls pradesh, khand, land and also rashtra. The second adjuncts are those that relate to a locational attribute, or that are specific to a particular place. Within this are dweep, garh and pur. The most popular is the word ‘pradesh’, which means region or a province with an ethnic base. This is found in case of six states, such as Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh. Next in use comes the adjunct ‘land’. Land means a conceptual area with a particular sphere of activity of a group of people (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2005). Such an adjunct, with a liberal connotation, is found in the case of four states with varying forms. In the case of Nagaland the word ‘land’ is retained, but in the state name of Rajasthan, it carries the Persian – stān, which cognates to Sanskrit sthāna meaning place or land – whereas in the case of Kerala the suffix ala, shortened from ‘alam’ means land. For Mizoram, the suffix ‘ram’ in Mizo language refers to land, especially the countryside. Providing insight into the individuality of an area is the word ‘khand’, which in Sanskrit means portion, segment, or division or region. This is carried by two states, which are Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. The suffix ‘rastra’ is the last in the series of adjuncts that refer to area and is an attribute of only one state, that is, Maharashtra. Departing from the adjuncts that provide an area-based reference to the name, there are three other words, namely dweep, garh and pur, which make a reference to locational properties. India has two island-based units, one in the Arabian Sea and the other in the Bay of Bengal. The word dweep, which in Sanskrit means island, is attached with Lakshadweep, while the English rendering, island, is the suffix put after the Andaman and Nicobar. The word garh means a fort or a citadel. It occurs with two units – Chandigarh and Chhattisgarh, where the former

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has a temple not a fort but is used to signify a zone that is under protection, in this case that of a goddess. Pura, a Tamil word denoting city, is usually derived from the Dravidian ‘ur’. In the later Vedic literature, the word pur meant rampart around a fort or stronghold. The meaning of ‘pura’ as city developed later and was not in vogue during the Vedic times. In this vein, ‘pur’ is the city and purhsa the citizen. It is possible that the two subnational units, Manipur and Tripura, were earlier names of towns and later were used as state names.

Names changed but territory remains the same The third feature of the subnational units relates to a situation where the name changes but the area remains the same. This is evident in the case of Arunachal Pradesh; it was earlier known as NEFA, or North East Frontier Agency; and prior to that it was known as Balipara Frontier Track, Sedia Frontier Track, Subansiri Frontier Track and Tirap Frontier Track.

Names remain the same but territory changes A fourth situation is where the territory changes but, in recent times, the name remains the same. Assam is a case whose territorial arrangements have changed from time to time but the name has remained the same. It was carved out of the Bengal Presidency in 1874 as a Chief Commissioner’s Province. In 1905, it found itself merged with the newly created province of East Bengal but the status of Assam was restored after the annulment of this partition in 1911. After independence, a number of states in the north-east region were carved out of it with no change in the name of the parent state. Finally, perhaps more than these oscillations and variations, the common feature faced in the case of almost all the state names is the multiple interpretations they carry.

Most subnational names carry multiple interpretations When the 40 names were collated and classified on the basis of the number of meanings each carried, they broadly fell into two groups; names that have a single interpretation and others having more than 1 interpretation. Of the 40 names, 21 belong to the group of only 1 interpretation and 19 had more than 1 interpretation each. Collectively the 40 names yielded as many as 85 interpretations. Ideally, logically and objectively, each place name should carry only one meaning, but it is not the case. The reason for this multiplicity is that the meaning of several names has still not been backed by convincing research; and scholars, travellers, tourist guides and local people forward different interpretations. This became evident when a search was launched to find the meanings of the names of state and union territories. The State Gazetteers of the Government of India provided one meaning; the travelogues had their own details; history books carried their own version and anthropologists had their own facts while

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government websites had their own take on the place name. No dictionary or authority had endorsed a singular meaning of many names. It is this absence that has allowed many interpretations and conjectures to survive. While an effort was made to search for possible meanings of different subnational units with the help of accessible literature, the likelihood of additional interpretations of the names in literature that I could not or have not been able to access cannot, nevertheless, be discounted. But even within this possibility, there were as many as nine versions of the meaning of Jammu and Kashmir, seven for the name Karnataka, five in the case of Tripura, three of Lakshadweep, and three also for Maharashtra. Take the case of Tripura. In Kokborok (language spoken in Tripura) and in Hindi, tri means three and pura refers to the province or territory. Another version (in Kokborok language) is that twi means water and pra means near. It is argued that in ancient times the boundaries of Tripura extended up to the Bay of Bengal when its ruler held sway from the Garo Hills to the Arakan. A third meaning, coming close behind, is that twi is water and bupra is confluence. The name of the state comes from the presence of a number of river confluences. The evidence to support this is that several villages in Tripura are named after the confluence of rivers, like Twikormo, Twirisa, Twisarangchak and Twimudul. But the matter does not end here. There is also a fourth interpretation, where Tripura derives its name from Tripura Sundari, a Tantrik goddess, the presiding deity of the state. A fifth suggestion is that Tripura is an appellation of Shiva, where the latter is called Tripurantaka, that is, one who killed the demon by the name of Tripur. For Maharashtra, maha means great in Hindi/Sanskrit and sacred in Pali. Hence, Maharashtra is a combination of great and/or sacred (depending on the language) and rashtra, which means a nation. A second interpretation is that maha is not about the ‘greatness’ but the physical expanse of the state, ‘maha’ or ‘large’. While the latter two are the more quoted meanings, a third explanation is that the name comes from the rathi or ratha or the chariot fighters, and maharatha means the great warriors. Maharashtrathus was also known as the land of the warriors. The fact of the suffix ‘rashtra’ with the name did not go unnoticed, because in a sense it suggests the case of a nation within a nation and this became a subject of debate in the Parliament of India. While debating the Bombay Reorganization Bill, 1960, in the Lok Sabha, Jayaben Shah of the Indian National Congress, on April 1, 1960 said: but if we try to look at this subject objectively, then the question arises, are we ready to call every province rashtra or nation. There is only one nation and that is our Bharat desh. If Maharashtra is formed, Gurjar Rashtra is formed – as it was called earlier, Bang Rashtra is formed, Kalinga Rashtra is formed, then what is left? If we don’t expel these feelings and past history from our mind, then how can the unity of our nation be maintained? Lakshadweep, the smallest union territory of India, is a group of islands in the Arabian Sea. The total land area is 32 square kilometres. Some sources state that

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Lakshadweep means hundred-thousand islands in Sanskrit and Malayalam. Even if all the islands were taken together, the number of islands remains 36, not one lakh. The term Lakshadweep, in fact, may never have intended to indicate any correct number. Lakshadweep, in a historic sense, was located on the sea route from African and Arabian countries to Malabar Coast. The name Lakshadweep might have been derived from the term ‘lakshya’ or destination. Some scholars believe that Lakshadweep could hardly be called a destination spot, it served only as an enroute point. According to another account, the British took over the southern islands from the Beebi of Arakkal family for non-return of a debt of rupees – one lakh – and the number sticks to the name. An arithmetic number, a point of destination, and also a financial figure: these are the varied explanations put forward for the name Lakshadweep. Several explanations fold into the name Kashmir. Many interpretations of the name of this state are associated with the phase of deglaciation, which the Kashmir Valley witnessed during the Pleistocene period. During this geological time, the melting of the glaciers inundated and submerged the Kashmir Valley and turned it into a vast lake. It is said that it was the sage Kashyapa, son of Brahma, who cut the gap in the hills at Baramulla (Varaha-mula) and drained out the lake occupying the valley. Kashyapa brought in the Brahmins to settle there. To honour the sage, the valley was given the name Kashmir Kashyap-Mar or Kashyap-Pura, bearing an affinity with the name Kashyapa. According to Islamic tradition, the valley was called Kasha-mir, combining the names of two jinns, or souls with special powers, called Kashf and Mir, who drained out the valley, which became submerged. The waters flowed out of Khadniyar, the olden name of present-day Baramulla. Another interpretation is that ‘Kasha’ refers to the name of an ascetic and ‘mar’ signifies a garden and hence the name Kashchah-Mar (Kasha’s Garden); the latter expression was subsequently changed to Kashmir. A completely different version is that the Khasas, a tribe who originally belonged to Central Asia, moved out and spread to different areas, including parts of the Himalayas. Several names symbolize the habitations of this tribe. There is Kashgar, Kashkara and, in the same vein, Kashmir. The name Kerala is also subject to different connotations. The term kera is traced to cher, which means to join or add to, and alam is land. Hence, Cheralam means land added to the already existing one. This relationship is tied to a geological process of submergence of the land in the ocean and its subsequent reemergence. The land that joined the Southern Peninsula is called Cheralam. In the course of time, Cheralam got Sanskritized to Keralam. An additional interpretation is that Cheralam is made of two words: cher means sand and alam land, and so the name literally stands for a sandy land. Others claim that charal in Tamil means the declivity of a hill or a mountain slope and the word was corrupted to Chera and later Kerala. There is still another suggestion along the lines that kera means palm tree and alam is land, thereby Kerala means the land of the palm

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trees. There is little to doubt that this tree dominates the landscape of this state. But that is not the last. It is also mentioned that the name comes from a tribe known as the Kerakas, who are described as people with one leg, referring to the palm trees that have one trunk, which they skilfully climb. Andhra Pradesh is a state situated in the southern part of the country. Andhra refers to south in Sanskrit. Another claim is that Andhra was a tribal group, most of whom had settled in the valleys of Godavari and Krishna. On this count, Andhra is an ethnological name. Karnataka, too, has many interpretations. Karu means great and nadu means land, and, similarly to Maharashtra, its name stands for a state with a great or extensive land. Karnataka is derived from the word Kannadu meaning a fragrant or sweet-smelling land. It is true that this is the one state of India that carries the scent of its dense sandalwood trees. The name is said to have a link also with kara-naad, where kara means black and, therefore, it is the black country. It is a fact that a large part of Karnataka is covered with black soil derived from the weathering of the Deccan lava traps. Karnataka gets its name also from kari, which in Sanskrit means elephant, and so the land of the elephants. Karnataka has a number of national wildlife parks like Bandipur, Kudremukh and Nagarhole, which nurture elephants. Another speculation is that because two tribes, Karna and Nat, inhabited this area, therefore, the land came to be known as Karnataka. Even where a specific number is a part of the name, there is a variation in explanation of what is being represented. A pertinent illustration of this is Chhattisgarh, chhattis meaning 36. The name Chhattisgarh was popularized during the Maratha period and was used in the official documents of 1795 ce. It is suggested that Chhattis, that is 36, refers to the 36 garhs or forts in the region. A counter explanation is that the actual name is Chattisghar and not garh. The former refers to houses and the interpretation of the name becomes an interesting reflection of the caste consciousness brewing in the region. The saying goes that 36 dalits, more specifically leather workers, immigrated and settled in this region and the land was thus given the name of this number. There is a still another version, which dismisses the origin and association of chattis with a number, and claims that this is corrupted form of Chedisgarh, the political seat of the Chedis, who ruled the area in the tenth century ce. It is Chedisgarh, which changed to Chhattisgarh. When the bundle of interpretations of place names from different authors and sources are pieced together, they bring forth and reinforce the ethnic diversity and linguistic variety of India.

Names carry the ethnic diversity and linguistic variety of India The wave after wave of people – Central Asians, Arabs, Turks, Mughals, British and others – have all left their mark upon the tapestry of place names. Layers of

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history are folded within names. A proof of this fact is that names are in a mix of languages. Meghalaya means the ‘abode of the clouds’. Mizoram is framed in a local context; where mi refers to the people, zo is for hill, ram stands for land, and is therefore interpreted as the ‘land of hill people’. Punjab is a Persian word where panch means five and ab means waters or rivers. There are some that stretch across more than one language. Take the case of Arunachal Pradesh. In Sanskrit, aruna means dawn-lit and anchal means mountains, while the suffix pradesh is Hindi. Similarly, the name Uttar Pradesh carries a Sanskrit qualifier uttarah, which means upper or northern while pradesh is Hindi. But Sanskrit and Hindi are not the only partners. Andhra is a Telugu word while Pradesh is a Hindi one. In the case of Nagaland, the qualifier is in Sanskrit while the adjunct belongs to English. In case of Haryana, ‘Hari’ is from harit meaning green, which is a Sanskrit root, and yā means to go or move. The word yā has an association with the Pali word yāna, which means vehicle and refers to a mode or method of spiritual practice in Buddhism. The contributions of the English language are the words land and island. Place names confirm that India is a land of many languages and thus of diverse people.

Names capture a connection with attributes of the place A second noticeable feature of the names of the states and union territories is that these are rarely arbitrary. All of them capture one or the other of the connection with their territory – it may be location, a physical feature, a historical event, a tribe, king or a religious belief. The interpretation of each name is rooted in the land, people, culture and history. Even where a name carries multiple interpretations, it does not wallow in an abstract or vague connotation. Therefore, in a sense one is saying that all interpretations represent the varied ways of ‘seeing’ a place and ‘bestowing’ a name. Finally, one may assert that the acceptance of the diverse interpretations is based on the premise that place names are an outcome of a creative process. People have different ways of seeing and representing the same site. A place’s topography, hydrology, land use or characteristic fauna or flora, among other things, could initiate a name. The name could also celebrate the culture of a place, language or music. A name could be that of its predominant settlers or even what happened at this place. It could be descriptive in nature, be a replication of a place left behind in a distant land, or linked to one’s new abode. A name could be an invocation to a god or goddess, held in reverence at a place. This being the situation, an attempt here is being made to take cognizance of the stock of interpretations that could be gathered. To this end, a classification of these varied interpretations becomes necessary. The classification of the meanings of place names has merits: it helped organize the variety; it helped discern the spatial distribution of the meanings of place names and, importantly, it provides insight into the ways names capture the sense and essence of place in India.

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Classification of interpretations of the names of subnational units There are various ways of classifying place names. When the meanings of the subnational units were sifted and sorted they fell into two main groups: the natural and the cultural. The natural was related to the physical environment and landscape, and the cultural was linked to history, ethnic composition and livelihood of the people. The natural and cultural belonged at the primary level. Within this broad primary classification, the meanings of the names offered themselves for further finer groupings. This then formed the secondary level – the natural carried seven subgroups while the cultural had four subgroups. Within the natural group were those that made reference to location, geology, physiography, climate, hydrology, soil and the biotic realm that includes vegetation and wildlife. The meanings of the cultural names, likewise, could also be classified on the basis of indigenous inhabitants, kings or rulers, and religious denomination. Belonging to the cultural groups were also those names that made reference to music or a number and were best kept in the assorted basket. But this was not all. A third-order classification was also possible. Take, for example, names in the physiographic category. These fell into those that pertained to a plain, or a plateau or a mountain. Similarly, the group on religion had subcategories of a god, a goddess or a saint. When a count was made of all the three tiers of classification, the aggregated interpretations of names fell into 27 categories. Place names based on geometry and arithmetic, although not a part of either natural or cultural groups are also an important category. Under these would come an important group of place names based on shape and size. A regional pattern was also discovered in the names that the states and union territories had acquired over time. Those with a ‘natural’ meaning were more dominant in the northern half of India, while names that carried ‘cultural traits’ were more frequent in the western and eastern extremities; and those that carried a combine of both were found more in the central and southern parts of the country (see Figure 3.1). The Himalayan belt carried state names that had a natural bearing: the Thar was embossed with a cultural stamp; and the Deccan and Northern plains were loaded with names of both nature and culture. Such a simplified picture was not without considerable complexity. To be more specific, the names that were borrowed from physiography and hydrology were more typical of the northern and north-western India while the role of vegetation was stronger in the names of the southern and south-eastern states. Almost all the states whose name carried a reference to a tribe were located in the north eastern part of the country or central India. Most widespread were the religious names that were scattered in many directions of the country. With these broad spatial dimensions of the place names it would further an understanding of the geography of India if each classification group were taken separately.

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FIGURE 3.1  India:

Interpretation of names of subnational units (states and union territories).

Source: Compiled by author.

Natural names The word natural contains a vast variety. The location of a place, the geological evolution, along with the landscape of plateau, plains and mountains fall within its purview. Also, there is climate and its two main elements – temperature and rainfall. The rivers, lakes and springs constitute the hydrology. Then there is soil and the biotic elements such as vegetation and wildlife. All these are encapsulated in the interpretations of the names of the subnational units of India.

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Names based on location None other than the capital of India, Delhi, carries a dimension of location in its very name. The name Delhi is often taken to be a form of Dehaleez or Dehali, which means threshold or entrance point. The reference to its location as the gateway is easy to draw out. Surrounded by the Yamuna-Satluj Divide, GangaYamuna Doab and the Aravallis, Delhi is not far from the Thar Desert and the Himalayas. To the south-east is the passageway towards the Malwa Plateau, and further down is the Deccan. Delhi is, therefore, at the point of minimum aggregate distance to the Himalayas, Northern Plains, Southern Plateaus and the Rajasthan Desert. The natural advantage of the site of Delhi has enabled it to maintain the historic justification for its name, which signifies that it is the dil, or heart, of India. The words dweep and diu mean an island. Both Lakshadweep and Diu represent the attribute of location. Both mark their presence in the Arabian Sea. The former is about 280 kilometres off the Kerala coast; and Diu is off the southern coast of Gujarat, where a creek separates it from the mainland. One easy way to name and remember where a place is, is to take a note of its cardinal points. Early Indian texts mention five divisions of India based on this criterion: there is Madhyadesa (Middle country), Udicya or Uttarapatha (Northern India), Pracya (Eastern India), Daksinapatha (Deccan) and Aparanta (Western India). Among these, Uttarapatha rings in the names of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh (Sircar, 1960).The Sanskrit word Uttar means north. Covering a large part of the centre of India is Madhya Pradesh. The word Madhya refers to being in the middle of the body structure of the country. The Zero Mile Stone, laid out by the British as a monument in the city of Nagpur, was the central point of colonial India. When the subcontinent was split in 1947, there was a need to relocate the centre of India. The surveyors identified the new point in 1987, in an obscure village called Karaundi, near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, thus vindicating the name of the state. The site acquired a special significance as being the exact geographical centre of independent India. The village and a cement replica of Asoka’s four-headed lion capital stands in the middle of a forest, with an inscription on the column of the monument indicating that this place is the centre of India. While the names of the three states are in conformity with their geographical locations, what is amiss is that there is no state named for the east. But what could be tucked in, as a descriptor, is the name Arunachal Pradesh. The name in Sanskrit means ‘land of rising sun’, as the state is located in the easternmost part of the country and receives the first rays of the sun. The cardinal point west appears as a prefix to Bengal but the state, in fact, is situated in the east of India. This disjunction is because the term ‘west’ originated with the colonial government’s decision in 1905 to partition Bengal into east (Muslim) and west (Hindu) Bengals. The official reason given was that Bengal, with its then population of 78 million, was too unwieldy to be administered. This was true to some extent, but the real motive behind the

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partition was to weaken Bengal, which had become a nerve centre for Indian nationalism. The people strongly reacted to this communal division of the province and it was reunified in 1911. The prefixes east and west, however, refused to fade away. East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan in 1947, as soon as it became a province of the newly formed country, Pakistan. The name East Pakistan continued until 1971, when it achieved independence and became the separate country of Bangladesh. In spite of all this change, the name West Bengal remains in use in India. Recently a Bill to rename it as Bengal has been passed by the West Bengal Legislative Assembly but it awaits the approval of the Houses of Parliament.

Shape and size names ‘My name is Alice, but–’ ‘It’s a stupid name enough!’ Humpty Dumpty interrupted impatiently. ‘What does it mean?’ ‘Must a name mean something?’ Alice asked doubtfully. ‘Of course it must,’ Humpty Dumpty said with a short laugh, ‘my name means the shape I am – and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.’ (Carroll, 1865) Off the eastern shores of India, lie the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With the land and ocean space having a length measuring more than 700 kilometres and a width of 259 kilometres, the oval shape of the Andaman Islands, excluding the Nicobar Islands, is what suggests an interpretation of the name from anda, which means an egg (Zehmisch, 2017). Although the connotation might seem a bit stretched, similarly the name Jammu, in some interpretations, is believed to have been taken from Jambudvipa, which, along with being the ‘land of jambu tree’, may also have been a pearshaped piece of land attached to the Himalayas. Karnataka and Maharashtra are the two states that carry the notion of vast size in their names. In the former, Karu-nadu refers to a great or extensive land, while in the latter Maha means vast or large. Covering 307,690 square kilometres, Maharashtra occupies nearly one-tenth of the geographical area of India. It is the second largest state of India after Rajasthan and its size is more than three times the average size of any other Indian state. Though not a part of the geometry of the land, but nevertheless associated arithmetically, are names that imply numbers. The range is vast – from 3 to 5 to 36 and up to 1,000,000! The easiest to explain is Tripura where tri refers to three features: one, the land; second, the waters; and the third, the junction of the two. The name Punjab refers to the number five, but, on one hand, there is the claim that the number refers to the five rivers of Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum, while others say that it could also refer to the five doabs

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(interfluves), thereby making it a land of six rivers, including Indus or Sindhu. In Chhattisgarh, chhattis is 36 in Hindi, whereas garh represents fort. The name means that there are 36 forts, which are present here in close proximity. Another explanation is that the name is not Chattisgarh but Chattisghar. Not content with a single or a double-digit number, but one that reaches up to one lakh, is what Lakshadweep carries – lakshadvipa meaning ‘one hundred thousand isles’. Located 280 kilometres off the coast of Kerala in the Arabian Sea, officially it consists of 12 atolls, 3 reefs and 5 submerged banks, with a total of about 36 islands and islets. The submerged banks are sunken atolls with only small nonvegetated sandy coves above the high-tide watermark. Are these exactly one hundred thousand in numbers? While this is more of an expression for the many islands, the game of numbers can keep any one guessing. While the above names relate to location and geometric and arithmetic dimensions, few names divulge geological or physiographic knowledge.

Geology and relief in names With the exception of Kerala, geological reference is seldom referenced in place names. Kerala is the narrow strip of land along India’s south-west coast. This is clear in the compound word Cheralam, which gives the meaning, land which emerged by the recession of the sea. With this derivation, the name Kerala refers to land reclaimed from the sea, lending support to the interpretation given by the legend of Parasurama. According to this legend, the land of Kerala was a gift of the Arabian Sea to Parasurama, one of the ten avatars of Lord Vishnu. Parasurama threw his paraśu or axe across the sea and the water receded from the spot where it fell. The tract thrown up is said to have taken shape as the land of Kerala. The word Cheralamcan be expanded to include a land that was added on to the already existing mountainous or hilly tract. The Bhagwat Purana also refers to the area as Ceralam or Cera-nadu. Ceralam in Tamil means a mountain range. This is further collaborated by fact that the eastern part of the state is marked by the rugged Southern Ghats (Law, 1976). Geological features are generally hidden within the surface of the earth; they are less visible, and, therefore, less likely to be adopted in a name. In contrast, some surface features of the land are so dominating that their names are present in the names of the subnational units. Take the Himalayas. A Sanskrit word, it means ‘abode of the snow’ from the Sanskrit word hima, ‘frost’, and alaya, ‘dwelling place’. This is a mountain arc, which sweeps across 2,415 kilometres from the Indus to the Brahmaputra, and carries 12 peaks that tower up over 8,000 metres. Arranged like a giant staircase, so formidable is its appearance that five states of India, which fall within its lap, carry a name tagged with the Himalayas. Beginning from the western end is Jammu and Kashmir. The name Jammu makes reference to the origin of the Himalayas. It is in this area that this ‘pear or Jambu-shaped’ region was attached to the mountains when the Indian tectonic plate subducted under the Eurasian plate and the Himalayas were

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uplifted up about 40 to 50 million years ago. Another subnational unit, which embraces Himalayas within its name, is Himachal Pradesh – him meaning snow and achal mountain. Himachal Pradesh is a mountainous state, with elevation ranging from about 350 to over 6,000 metres. Here occur famous peaks like Shilla, Shipki, Manerang and Mulinga that soar above an altitude of 6,000 metres. With snow-capped peaks visible from far away, the state is also ascribed the Sanskrit word, himavant, or a region carrying enormous snow. Hence, the picturesque Himalayas get encapsulated in Himachal Pradesh. Historically, a large part of present Uttarakhand was coterminous with Garhwal, a name that is interpreted as a land of ghads. A ghad is a local term for a narrow valley. The copper plates of the fifth century ce refer to this area as Parvatakara-rajye, which means a kingdom filled with mountains. This description aptly fits with the name Garhwal, derived from the word giry-dvali or a row of mountains. In early times, Garhwal was also known as Kedara Bhumi or Kedra Khanda, meaning a land of agricultural fields (Prakash, 1997). Traversing eastwards one reaches an area where a row of peaks tower above the mountain ranges and are visible for great distances. The state is called Sikkim, derived from the Sanskrit word, Sikhara meaning ‘a mountain summit’. In Sikkim, in the mid-mountain region in the central Himalayas, rises Mt. Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world. Reaching the eastern extremity of India there is the state named Arunachal Pradesh. The name emphasizes that this state receives the first sunrays in India. Hitting the promontory of Namcha Barwa, the Himalayan range takes a curve from the north and north-east direction to the south. At a point where the mountains meet hills and valleys, lies the strategically located state of Mizoram. Within its name is embedded the word zo, which means a hill. Dominated by the jagged topography of the Himalayas, Assam stands in sharp contrast to the Ganga and Brahmaputra Plains. Assam is a ramp valley forced down the Shillong Plateau by the thrust of the Himalayas. In Assamese, as also in Sanskrit, Asama means an ‘uneven topography’, to distinguish it from the flat topography of the Ganga Plain. Names are not just a textual representation of the land, describing the relief or terrain, but can capture the complexity of the fundamental traits of climatic elements.

Climatic names Himachal Pradesh is ascribed the Sanskrit word himavant, a region carrying enormous snow. The winter here lasts from November to March and snowfall in the alpine tracts above 2,200 metres is common for much longer. Whereas snow is the frozen form of precipitation, clouds are the reservoir of rain. The state with the heaviest annual average rainfall in India is Meghalaya. The lifting of a strong south-westerly airflow to the Meghalaya plateau, coupled with the unstable upstream air that is funnelled in by the mountain ranges of the Garo,

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Khasi and Jaintia Hills, creates one of the rainiest regions on the surface of the earth. Mawsynram is a village in the East Khasi Hills district, 65 kilometres from Shillong. It is reportedly the wettest place in the world, with an average annual rainfall of 11,872 millimetres, or 467.4 inches. The dense clouds that hang over the state for a major part of the year inspired S. P. Chatterjee, Professor of Geography at Calcutta University, to name the region Meghalaya or the ‘abode of the clouds’ (Spate and Learnmonth, 1967). The term Meghalaya is a combination of two Sanskrit words: megha meaning clouds and alaya meaning ‘abode’. Quite likely, Chatterjee was inspired to coin this name after the Kalidas’ lyrical treatise, Meghadoot. Not only do names make reference to snow, clouds and rain but also there are some subnational units that knit themselves into the hydrological cycle even further by making reference to the rivers.

River names The single most important element of the natural environment that has determined the names of the subnational units of India is none other than a river. Hesse rightly said that the river is everywhere at once, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea and in the mountains (Hesse, 1922). Water flowing between the banks is an elixir of life. Hence, the entry of rivers in place names should not surprise anyone. The name for the country, India, is based on the river Sindhu, generically derived from syand, to flow. The importance of the river is also evident in the case of the name Punjab. ‘They all Sind, Jhailam ( Jhelum), Irāwa (Ravi), Biah (Beas) combine with the Satlader (Satluj) below Múltán, at a place called Panjnad, or the junction of the five rivers, and form a very wide stream,’ Al-Biruni notes. He further adds that by the grace of God our caravan arrived safe and sound at Banj-āb’. Banj (panj) signifies ‘five’, and āb, ‘water’ so that the name signifies ‘the Five Waters’. Though the word Punjāb is Persian, the corresponding Sanskrit name Panchanada occurs in both Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata. The name Punjab was given to the province of Lahore when Akbar, the Mughal emperor, extended his domain to include the five doabs or interfluves. Later when the British enlarged the province upto the bank of river Yamuna, they preferred to continue with the name, Punjab ‘the land of five rivers’. (Grewal, 2004) The importance of the role of the river is also seen in the case of Daman, one of the two components of the union territory of Daman and Diu, which finds an association with the river Daman Ganga. The union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli lies in the watershed of the river Daman Ganga, which originates from the Western Ghats and flows west into the Arabian Sea. The territory itself is landlocked, although the Arabian Sea coast lies just to the west in close

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vicinity. Meandering rivers, big and small, have thus inspired names in India. The flora that clothes the land and the fauna in the habitat have also played their parts in this naming process.

Flora and fauna names The plant world is an amply stocked source of names. Vegetation is a cloak and thus is hard to miss. It changes in accordance to latitudinal and altitudinal markings of the land. Studded with rhododendrons, the meadows and the pastures that adorn the temperate slopes are fresh, lush and green; the Sanskrit word ‘mar’, which signifies a ‘garden’, led to the name Kashchah-Mar. Identifying with the colour green rather than a type of vegetation is the name Haryana. Due to the abundance of various species of trees and bushes, the region was called Haryala, which later changed to Haryana. The Imperial Gazetteer of India mentions that ‘the name is derived from ‘hari’ meaning green and reminds us of time when the region had a coating of luxuriant forests, called Haryala (green) ban (forest)’. Nearly one-third of the state of Jharkhand is covered with forests of sal, sheesham, mahua, semal, lac and kusum. Drawing from this richness came the name Jharkhand, meaning the land of the jharis ( jungles). It is a compound of the Hindi words jhar and khand, literally meaning ‘a landmass quilted with thickest cluster of forest’. It’s not just jungle that works its way into the name; there is also the Konkani word ‘goy’, meaning ‘tallgrass’, which is the root of the name Goa. The meanings of names take into account not just the zones of vegetation, forests, pastures, meadows and grasslands, but are also attributed on the basis of individual plant species. The economic fortunes of Kerala’s coastal belt is heavily dependent on the coconut tree. The word kera means ‘palm tree’ whereas alam refers to ‘land’. This interpretation makes Kerala a land of the palm trees. For Karnataka, it is the fragrance of sandalwood in the forests that entered into its name. In Kannada, the ‘sweet smell’ is referred to as Kannadu or Kammitunadu and this is what resides in the name Karnataka. There are other versions too. Some opine that Karnaad comes from ‘Kari Naad’, where ‘kari’ in Sanskrit means ‘elephant’. Therefore, the name of the state could well be interpreted as a land of elephants. The elephant does form a sizeable one-fourth of all wildlife found in Karnataka. Over 3,400 elephants roam in its Bandipur National Park and represent the dominance of this mammal in the state. It follows that places get names from plants or animals, which distinguish them by virtue of their abundance, economic value or exclusiveness. At times, the mythological association of a plant or of wildlife becomes a factor in the naming of a state. Hence, animals, as the pride of a state, often become commemorated in the names of the state. A snake is called ‘nag’ in Sanskrit. It symbolizes power, wealth and energy and it lends its name to the state of Nagaland. A group of scholars contend that it is hard to accept the theory of ‘Naga’ having Sanskrit origin. There is no cult of snake worship among the Nagas, though the killing of a python is a ceremonial event.

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Some of them find the term Naga to be a derivation of a Burmese word No-Ka, meaning people with pierced earlobes, while others find its origin in the Assamese word Noga, meaning naked people. There is also embedded a myth that Naga Raj was the name of one its rulers, who had Ulipi, the Naga Kanya, as his daughter. The biotic information tucked into the names of states is, therefore, a clue to the resource-potential of a state. Interpretation reveals that the names evolved with reference to specificity of location and natural environment. This should not lead one to the conclusion that ‘environmentalism’ or the play of physical factors alone ‘determined’ the origin of place names in India. This is not the case, and names reveal the people’s deep sense of belonging to the land. Through place names, culture transforms a marker on the horizon into a vivid presence.

Cultural names Culture is a crucible that carries a mix of ethnic background, language, religion and value-system of the people and much more. All this is reflected in 24 out of the 40 names of the subnational units of India. Within these names, the largest number finds its association with a tribe. This is particularly true of Andhra Pradesh, Nicobar Islands, Gujarat, Kashmir, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa or Odisha and West Bengal.

Tribal names Nearly half a dozen names of states and union territories draw their meaning from their affiliation with tribal people. For instance: it is the people of Andhra and not the country of Andhra that was known at first … the Andhras, a tribal group most of whom settled down in the valleys of the Godavari and Krishna … thus the name Andhra is an ethnological place name. The region of their habitat later on came to be called Andhra-desa. (Mangalam, 1986) The thirteenth rock edict of Asoka refers to the Andhras as a people included within the Mauryan empire. They find a mention in the Puranas too. All this is testimony to their ancient background. Gujarat derives its name from Gujjaratt, that is ,Gurujara Rashtra in Sanskrit, meaning there by the land of Gurjaras. They are believed to be an immigrant tribe who arrived in India in the third or fourth centuries ce. After passing through Punjab and other areas on the way, they settled, in due course, in the area that came, by the tenth century ce, to be known as Gujarat ( Jamindar, 2010). A group of Persians, who originally hailed from Central Asia and entered India through the Himalayas, were the Khasas. They are believed to have given their names to Kashi (Central Asia), Kashgar and also Kashmir. The name of the

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state of Orissa was changed to Odisha in 2011, and is traced to the Oriya word ‘odisa’. The word comes from the Ordras, who were indigenous tribes of Odisha in early historical times. The regions they inhabited came to be known as Ordra, Kalinga and Utkala. Maharashtra also has a connection with a tribal name, rathi, or ‘chariot fighters’ from rath – a chariot. Thus, Maha+ratha means ‘great chariot fighters’. Kerala is believed to carry an association with kerakas who were a ‘wild one-legged’ tribe. This could be refer to people earning their living by climbing the coconut tree. The lineage of the name West Bengal is attributed to a tribe called the Vangas that populated the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta. In the Bay of Bengal are situated the islands of Nicobar. The Nicobarese people speak MonKhmer, a part of the Austro-Asiatic language family. The fact that they were a dominant tribe here is how the island got its name – Nicobar. It may be added that the Thanjore inscriptions mention these islands as Nakkavaram, meaning the land of the naked people, referring to the way the tribes lived. This changed into Nicobar, and the inhabitants came to be known as Nicobarese. Within a framework of tribes, the names of the subnational units of northeast India cannot be overlooked. The rule of the tribal group, Tippera, led the region to be called Tipperal Hill State. This was eventually trimmed to Tripura. Nagaland is also aligned with the Nagas. The word Naga seems to have evolved from the word Nagna, which means naked. Nagas are known by the scanty clothes they wear. Several ethnic tribes make up the population of Mizoram. These myriad ethnic groups were collectively known as Mi, that is, people, and zo, meaning hill; hence they are people of the hills. From the people, the name became attached to the region.

Language and music names Many state names in India build in a reference to language. The oldest among the family of Dravidian languages, with a vocabulary, grammar and a script independent of Sanskrit, was Tamil. Known for its retroflexed consonants and a vehicle for powerful oratory, it is the language that gives the subnational unit the name Tamil Nadu. So dominant is the role of language as a binder and separator that, based on the report of the States Reorganization Commission, India recast its internal political map into 14 states and 6 union territories on the basis of language in 1956 (Sardesai, 2008). Language is spelt out in several of the names that states carry, such as Assamese, Bengali, Odiya, Kannada, Gujarati and Punjabi among others. An integral dimension of any culture is music. Dadra is a light classical vocal beat in Hindustani classical music. It is mostly performed in Agra and in the Bundelkhand regions. Since music has no boundaries, it lends its name to the first segment of the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. While the meaning of some names is tied to the natives of a state, there are some other names where a person, whether real or mythical, has inspired a name. Such names have become eponyms. The eponymous person could be a king or ruler who governed the land. Eponyms, thus, make a past accessible through a personal reference.

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Eponymous names The name Delhi is at times attributed to Raja Dhilu or King Dihlu, who founded this ancient city in 800 bce. Since this does not find much support from any of the older texts, it is said that the Dhillon rulers held sway over Delhi from 800 bce to 283 bce and that the name Dhilli, or Delhi, originated from that time. Similarly, it is believed that King Jamboolochan founded Jammu in the fourteenth century bce ; a cultural twist to the natural place name of Jammu based on Jambudvipa. The king was on a hunting expedition and in a nearby forest he spotted a tiger and deer drinking water from the same pool. The tranquillity of the spot so enchanted the king that he decided to build a settlement there and gave it the name of Jambupura. Thus originated the name Jammu. The names of a dynasties also endures in the shape of names. Assam is often associated with the Ahom Kingdom, which was established by the Shan prince Sukaphaa in the thirteenth century ce and lasted for nearly 600 years, till the nineteenth century. While the Shan invaders called themselves Tai, the indigenous people referred to them as Āsām and sometimes as Acam, or the invincible. The epithet applied to the Shan conquerors was subsequently transferred to the territory over which they ruled and thus the name Āsām, which ultimately took the Sanskritized form Asama, meaning ‘unequalled or unmatched’ ( Jahari, 2014). The origin of the state name Chhattisgarh is often linked to Chedisgarh or the political seat of the Chedis. They ruled over the Bundelkhand region, south of Yamuna, in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The name of a dynasty ultimately became a state name, according to this interpretation. But perhaps no other Indian state glorifies the kings and the rulers as does the state of Rajasthan. Rajputana, ‘the country of the Rajputs’, is also called Rajasthan or Rajwara, ‘the abode of the princes’. The Rajputs rose to prominence in this part of India in the sixth century. The race furnished such a large lineage of princely families that on its formation the state was given the name of Rajasthan, or the land of kings. The fact that India is more passionate about gods and goddesses than kings and princes is evident in many more state names. Several of these interpretations are soaked in religious narratives. Narratives that accompany place names are of equal significance. Hidden within stories are the bonds between people and place, and the use of imagination to foster this relationship. The name thus serves as a unifier of myth, legend and reality.

Religious names India is deeply steeped in religion and this influence is evident in place names. A reverence for the divine is amply evident in the nearly half of the subnational units that refer to a god or a goddess. Hari is a name common to several gods, and it is also a common pan-Indian personal name, as evidenced by the likes

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of Haridass and Hariprasad! This is seeded in the name Haryana, where Hari refers to the ‘Hindu god’ and yana stands for his ‘vehicle’. The name Andaman is linked with Handuman, the Malay form of Hanuman, treating the islands as the abode of the Hindu mythological monkey deity. With a pantheonic form of worship, Nagaland too is linked to a nag or a snake, associated with Shiva, a god seen wearing a garland of snakes. This goddess represents fertility, valour and protection, and none is as popular as she. There is an interpretation that the area in the vicinity of present-day Delhi once had seven temples of yoginis or goddesses. Among these the most revered was dedicated to the Goddess Dhillika. That is how the place got its name. Even in the case of Jammu, it is the Hindu goddess Jamwa Mata, residing in the Pir Panjal, who is said to have lent her name to this territory. In India, the deeds of saints are interpreted as miracles and they are sometimes seen as direct descendants of gods. In Rajatarangini, a history of Kashmir written by Kalhanain the twelfth century ce, it is stated that the valley of Kashmir was formerly a lake. This was drained by a sage called Kashyapa, who cut the gap in the hills at Baramulla. The locals named the valley Kashyap-Mar or KashyapPura in honour of the sage. Even the habitats of monks were considered sacred, as is evident in the name Bihar, derived from the Sanskrit word vihara, which means an ‘abode or a monastery’. The region was the land of Buddha. For centuries, the Buddhist monks resided, meditated and preached in these viharas. An assemblage of meanings can be thus seen in many of the names of states and union territories. The names have been inspired by the physical or cultural characteristics of the landscape; this means that a name may be taken as symbolic of a place or its inhabitants. Names are thus containers of the ecology of the place. If one were to make a collage, by way of pasting the meaning of the names of the subnational units at their proper locations on a map of India, it would constitute a graphic demonstration of the geography of the country. The names that carry the snow-clad mountains, the crest of the ranges and the overhanging clouds capture the Himalayan zone. The lace of rivers defines the Indo-Gangetic plain while dense forests, tribes and nag worship typifies the hills of the northeast. The dense jungles of Central India give way to the fragrance of sandalwood, the lush green rice fields, and the coconut trees that adorn the coasts of India. Roaming in the forests are the snakes and elephants, while grazing on the grasslands are the herds of cows. Within this physical description are the people, tribes and their kings and kingdoms. From the physical to the cultural, India is without doubt a land of spirituality. Imbued with stories and myths, a reverence towards the gods and goddesses resounds side by side with that of the land and the people. Place names capture all this and more. From their location, to beauty, to resources, to the abodes of the gods; all these form part and parcel of the ways in which the names of the subnational units are explained. The visual references are so dominant that road signs, billboards, travel brochures and even the state websites carry ‘boosterism’ tags.

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Names to boost The template of many a state name carries an aura of pride and this gives rise to a set of names known as boosterism names. The word booster is used because it is the travel and tourism industry and financial corporations that have largely used these place names to promote and attract tourists and investors. These booster names are splashed on road signs, billboards, travel brochures and at other marketing venues. Since these play a role of ‘boosting’ the image of a subnational unit, they are called boosterism captions in the style of names. These names try to grasp the character, heritage and spirit of a place; some to boast and most to boost. The names of gods and goddesses ring in some of the booster names. Nestled deep within a lush green corner of the north-east, the state name Manipur is taken literally to signify the land of gems. The legend popularized is that Shiva and Parvati danced in Manipur after draining away the water in the valley through a tunnel made by Shiva’s trident. Seeing the dance, the overjoyed serpent god took the gems out of his hood and sprinkled these all over the land. Mani refers to ‘gems’ and pur refers to ‘land or city’. Goa carries the epithet of the Land of Sun, Surf and Sand; Lakshwadeep are the Coral Islands; and Andaman and Nicobar the Emerald Islands. Taking another analogy, Arunachal Pradesh is called the Land of the Rising Sun, while another name for Jharkhand is ‘Vananchal’ or the Forested Land. In similar vein, Karnataka is the Land of Elephants and Punjab the Bread Basket of India. Sikkim is seen as the Valley of Rice. For some subnational units the slogan becomes not the land but the location. Delhi is the Gateway to India; Madhya Pradesh is the Heart of India; and Rajasthan is Abode of Princes. The presence of god is announced in the booster names of nearly half a dozen states. Thus, Haryana becomes the Vehicle of Hari; Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand the Deva Bhoomis and Tamil Nadu, Land of Temples. Kerala caps it all by carrying the phrase God’s Own Country (see Figure 3.2). Picturesque nicknames are not trivial and they do stimulate interest and boost the sense of pride and belonging amongst people for a place. They serve as identity markers for outsiders to appreciate. The impact is spontaneous and deep, and the pictorial representation of many a state emblem carries the meaning of the name. The gracefully swinging trunks of two elephants personifies Kerala. The picture of snow-capped mountains is the insignia for Himachal Pradesh. A dash of sunrays emerging from a backdrop of hills is the graphic for Arunachal Pradesh. In consonance with its rivers and lakes, the monogram of Kashmir is of waves in water. Uttar Pradesh is symbolized by the confluence of the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati at Prayaga, with the bow and arrow of Ram in Ayodhya superimposed on the image. The fish in the water symbolize abundance. The interpretation of the place name etched on the emblem echoes the geography of the place. As a hallmark of identity, these stimulate parallel and deep insight. But subnational units do not have only official and booster names; some are tagged with nicknames that defame.

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FIGURE 3.2 India: Boosterism

names of subnational units (states and union territories),

2017. Source: Compiled by author.

A place that carried a dubious name is Kalapani for Andaman, excluding Nicobar. If one explores the origin of the term Kalapani, one realizes that it must have come from the extremely dark-violet water of the Bay of Bengal. This was the extent of the world that convicts could see from the portholes of their ships, tucked away in the hold for the long journey from Calcutta or Madras, the two points of embarkation. This may be true, but the name most probably is associated with the feelings of pure dread and anxiety that the denizens of the dusty plains

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and rugged plateaus of this vast land, allegedly ‘hardened criminals’, carried during their exile on a remote, desolate, little uninhabited island. Moreover, it is only in the middle of the sea that the water is dark. As one approaches the Andaman archipelago, the water lightens; around the landmass, it is an exquisite ultramarine and ultimately, on the shore, it is a rich jade in colour. But the name Kalapani stuck. It sits ingrained in the collective Indian consciousness and in folklore as a place that symbolizes separation, deprivation and fear (Dasgupta, 2002).

Continuity and change of names Some names continue for a long time, while others are quickly replaced. What is the durability among the stock of these 40 names of subnational units? Which among these names have been a continuous part of the map of India and which have been replaced and are therefore lost? Linked to this query is the question of how one can grasp the continuity or discontinuity of a place name. The task is not easy but here is a possible experiment. To grasp the durability of place names one would need the temporal stock of the names. Moreover, to remove inconsistency all the names would require a common source of data and a uniform spatial scale of occurrence. Being a geographer and attuned to working with maps, I decided to search for the names within an atlas. Since the attempt was to make a temporal inquiry of the durability of names of the subnational units of India, three atlases were used as the frame of reference. One was the Historical Atlas of South Asia by Joseph E. Schwartzberg (1978), the second was the India Administrative Atlas (1872–2001): A Historical Perspective along with the Administrative Atlas of India (2011), both by the Census of India (see Appendix 3.A). Based on a bedrock of information as revealed in the Ramayana, Mahābhārata, Pāṇini’s Astadhyayi, Kautaliya’s Arthaśāstra and pieced together from the travelogues of the Greek, Chinese and Arab explorers, Schwartzberg’s Historical Atlas carries maps of India recapitulating the Vedic period and covering the Mauryan Empire (321–181 bc), the Mughal Period (1526–1765) and the British Period (1766–1947). The atlas was published in 1978. For the period from 1951 to 2011, the Atlas of the Census of India came in handy. To take stock of the recently formed state of Telangana, the latest edition of the Oxford School Atlas (2017) was used. The idea of selecting these atlases was to cover the period from ancient to postindependence India. To identify the presence of the subnational names, the method adopted was to overlay the 2017 political state and union territory map with its latitude and longitude on the series of 40 historical maps. In this overlay, a systematic search was made to identify the names of the current subnational units. When this vast historical canvas of 40 maps was combed through for the names of the subnational units of India, three ‘situations’ emerged. First, place names did exist but the name could well be that of an earlier town or a smaller region and, therefore, not that of the state. Delhi, for example, was

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the name of an imperial capital at one time, a district at another, a union territory at still another, and now the National Capital Territory. Second, a name could exist but belong to an area that is different in spatial coverage or political allegiance. The present West Bengal was a small part of the larger Bengal Province, which spread from the middle-Ganga and Brahmaputra valleys, and further to the hilly terrains toward the north and east. Bengal was, after all, the largest province of British India. Similarly, the Punjab of Mughal times, during the sixteenth century, was not the same as the Punjab of the British period in the mid-nineteenth century, when the Sutlej-Yamuna divide was attached with it. After 1947, there were two Punjabs: one in India and the other in Pakistan. On the Indian side only, we had three Punjabs in succession: one in 1947, another in 1956 and the third in 1966 (Grewal, 2004). But where the size and shape of the territory changed, the name endured. Third, a subnational name could exist but the name could be documented with a different spelling or carry a changed prefix or suffix. This was a common situation. In these cases, the imprint of the name can be read. Rajputana, the country of the Rajputs was also called Rajwara, meaning the abode of the princes. Over the years, the name of the state seems to evolve, as it were, from Rajwara, Raethana, Rajputana, Rajpootana and Rajasthan. No matter the name, it always carried the epitaph of ‘land of the Rajputs’, as derived from Sanskrit for ‘son of a king’. Likewise, though the word Panjab is Persian and therefore medieval, the corresponding Sanskrit word Panchanada is ancient and occurs in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. A continuity of sorts can be read for the present-day Punjab through Panchanada; Punjab; Punjab Kangra and Lahore Province during the Mughal time; and subsequently, Punjab Province during the British rule and now Punjab state. Historically, the land of Andhra Pradesh was known as Andhraapatha, Andhra Desa, Andhraavani, Andhra mandalamu and Andhra vishaya, along with many other versions, but a thread common to them all is Andhra. Some names carry a change in spelling but still maintain a continuity of ‘form’. Tippera is the name on the map of India under Babur, Humayun and Sher Shah. It becomes Hill Tippera during the early years of British rule. Its spelling changes to Hill Tipperah in the 1857 map, and now it is Tripura. Similarly, there could be Kasmira, or Cashmere, yet despite these differences in spelling, the nuance of the name Kashmir has endured from time immemorial. The presence of the name of a subnational unit marked its presence even if it existed with any form of spelling; the logic being that, similar to a fossil, as long as an ‘impression’ of the present name is discernible, its continuity would be acceptable. The occurrence of the subnational names in the 40 maps was then documented and represented in a graphic form. The intention was to construct the comparative temporal frame of the names of all the subnational units. All the names are arranged alphabetically on the X-axis, while the Y-axis shows a timeline of 100 years or a century (see Figure 3.3).

Names of the subnational units  75

FIGURE 3.3 Durability

of subnational names.

Source: Compiled by author.

To comprehend the form of continuity, a four-fold classification was devised: i. continuous names were those that occurred in all of the maps ii. frequent names were those that occurred in 50 to 75 percent of the maps iii. discontinuous names were those that occurred in 25 to 50 percent of the maps and iv. occasional names were those that occurred in less than 25 percent of the maps When such criteria were applied, none among the subnational unit names qualified for the status of continuity. Therefore, there is not a single name that has sustained its presence in these 40 maps from the earliest to the present times. Among the names of subnational units there are three names that had a score of occurring in 20 out of the 40 maps. To this group belonged Bengal, Kashmir and Punjab. Sixteen names occurred in less than half the maps and 21 were names of

76  Names of the subnational units

subnational units, which marked their presence in less than 10 maps. A continuity punctuated by short breaks is a trend that seems to evolve around the midthirteenth century. This was the time when Muslim rule was established over a sizeable part of India. The graphical representation reveals that most names occur in spurts and jerks, and few are able to maintain a significant length of continuity. Continuity is a feature of the larger-size states like Kashmir, Bengal, Punjab and Rajasthan rather than of the smaller ones like Meghalaya, Mizoram or Nagaland. A discernible feature is that the territories in the southern half of India carry more stable names than those in the northern half. This was a result of the frequent invasions and change of ruling dynasties in the north. It is no wonder that the subnational units in the regions of India show greater rate of change of names than those that occupy the mainland or the geographical core. The above experiment clearly proves that the stock of place names, be it the name of the nation or that of the subnational parts, undergoes change. What are the processes that change place names? How and why do place names change? What are the types of changes of place names? Who is responsible for the changes in place names? Does India have a plan, procedure and policy for name change? How do these configure and shape the place name map of India? These and other such questions form the basis of inquiry in the remaining parts of this book.

Appendix 3.A TABLE 3.A Maps sourced for the historical study of administrative names

No. Title of map

Century/Year

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

NA NA NA 600–800 bc 560–325 bc 500–400 bc 400 bc 400 bc 321–181 bc 200–1 bc c.1–300 ad c.1–300 ad c.300–550 550–700 ad NA 300–700 ad 700–975 ad 975–1200 1050 ad 1170–1290 1290–1390 1390–1450 1451–1526 1526–1555 1556–1605 1605–1707 1707–1766 1766–1819 1819–1857 1857 1857–1904 1904–1912 1913–1947 1947–1955 1955–1975 1981 1991 2001 2011 2017

Vedic India India as revealed in the Ramayana India as revealed in the Mahabharata The 16 Mahajanapadas and the other regional powers In the age of Magadhan and Achaemenid in hegemony India as revealed in Pāṇini’s Astadhyayi India as revealed by Kautaliya’s Arthasastra India as known to the early Greeks The time of the Mauryan Empire The period of Śuṅga and Indo-Greek ascendency In the Sātvāhana and Śaka-Kuṣāṇa age In the expanding Western view of the world In the Gupta-Vākātaka age In the age of Puṣyabhūti and Cālukyan ascendency As revealed in Puranic cultural regions and Janapadas As known to the Chinese travellers The age of Gurjara-Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas The age of Ghaznavids, Cahamanas, later Chalukyas and Cholas Arab knowledge of South Asia North India and adjacent area in the time of Ghurdis and Mamluks South Asia in the time of Khiljis and Tughluqs Political disintegration in Northern South Asia South Asia in the time of Lodis North South Asia in the period of Babur, Humayun, Sher Shah North South Asia during the reign of Akbar The reigns of Shahjahan, Jahangir, Aurangzeb Mughal disintegration and rise of regional empires The expansion of British Empire The expansion of British Empire Administrative divisions Territorial and administrative changes Territorial and administrative changes Territorial and administrative changes Territorial changes Territorial changes Administrative divisions of India Administrative divisions of India Administrative divisions of India Administrative divisions of India Administrative divisions of India

Based on Map No. 1 to 35 from Schwartzberg (1978); Map No. 36 to 39 from Census of India (2011); Oxford School Atlas (2017). Source: Compiled by Author.

4 SANSKRITIZATION OF PLACE NAMES

Place names change. The main reason for the change is that power and control of a place shifts into the hands of a different set of people. The latter could be indigenous to a place or come from outside. The new set of people see and hear the place differently. Moreover, people are keen to leave their imprint on the place and so use place names as symbols to flag their presence, pride and power. India has seen the inflow of mainly three broad groups of people: the Rig Vedic, the Islamic and the British. All three came from the West. The first two took the land route while the last one came via the sea. All three made significant changes to the place names in India. This is because each spoke a different language, professed to a different religion, and came to India with differing intentions and interests. Each left an indelible mark on the landscape of place names in India. India was cradle to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, which was anchored on the banks of the river Indus. This civilization, called Harappa and Mohenjodaro, was named after the two main cities found at archaeological excavation sites. Very little can be said with certainty about the people of this civilization but through the evidence of shared culture it can be concluded that the inhabitants spoke different languages, collectively known as the Dravidian family of languages, today dominant in South India (Winters, 2012). The physical geography of India, with its mountain ranges and hills, large rivers and their many tributaries, vast desert and several wetlands and swamps, and the torrent of the monsoons, meant that travel even by foot had to be stalled because of terrain, rain and floods. This thwarted people from intermingling with each other. As a result of this regional isolation, India nurtured a large number of languages and dialects. India today has 22 recognized regional languages, with Hindi and English as the official languages and as many as 19,569 mother tongues (Census of India, 2011, 2018). This confirms that India boasts of place names in a large variety of dialects and languages.

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A nomadic group of people from Central Asia arrived and settled in the subcontinent between 1500 bce and 1000 bce. They composed verses in Sanskrit in praise of their gods. These verses were compiled over time into a text, known as the Rig Veda. Rik in Sanskrit means a verse and Veda is knowledge; Rig Veda is, therefore, knowledge in the form of verses. The people who composed these verses, let us call them Rig Vedic people, numbered less than 100,000 in the beginning. India at that time was a land of barely 10 million people as compared to over 1.2 billion in 2011 (Ramachandran, 2018). When the Rig Vedic people came to India there already were many dialects and languages in the country. The Rig Vedic people dispersed to different parts of India. Wherever they moved they took along their religion, customs and language. Ramachandran (2018) identifies five stages of spread of the Rig Vedic people across India. The first is in the upper Indus Basin, the second was their settlement in the Yamuna region, and in the third stage they reached the Middle Ganga Plains. The fourth stage was the occupancy of Central India, where they spread in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and even Gujarat in significant numbers. In the final stage, the Rig Vedic people, by and large, made their way to South India. The process of migration thus began in 1500 bce and went right up to 1200 ce. In their sequential occupancies across the length and breadth of India, the Rig Vedic people left a marked impact on place names. In the context of the present book I have used the phrase ‘Sanskritization’ to refer to the influence of Rig Vedic people through religion and language on place names. It needs to be clarified that M. N. Srinivas (1952), the famous sociologist, in his study of Coorg, Karnataka, found that lower castes, in order to raise their status in the caste hierarchy, adopted customs and practices of the Brahmanas and gave up some of their own, which were considered as impure by the higher castes. He termed this social upward mobility as the process of Sanskritization. In the context of place names, the term Sanskritization is used differently. The works of some scholars who have researched on place names in India have also used the term Sanskritization (Varier, 1984; Bhat, 1993; Gopikrishnan, 2007 and Narayanan, 1994). The process contains the impact of Hindu religion with Sanskrit as a vehicle for its propagation and preservation of place names. Sanskritization travelled on foot. There were no radios, television, Internet and social media; not even printed books or leaflets. In the span of over 3,000 years, Sanskritization impacted place names in many and varied forms. Two of these are most discerning. First is through language and the second through religion. Through these two influences, Sanskritization became a potent force and its influence is evident even in the present-day tendency to revert place names to their Sanskritized form. The evidence of the impact of Sanskritization on place names is more on record in South India. This is because the Rig Vedic people, mainly the Brahmanas, reached South India between 500 ce and 1200 ce. More importantly, the pride for Tamil as an ancient and distinct language inspired linguists of South India to research on the impact of Sanskrit on Tamil place names. Labouring through

80  Sanskritization of place names

religious texts, inscriptions and numismatic sources, these linguists have brought to light the changes in place names in their terrain under the Sanskritization process. Many of the examples in this chapter draw from the works of these scholars.

Sanskritization and religious place names The impact of religion on place names is an all-encompassing feature in India. The influence came through many different means, be it names of gods and goddesses, personalities and events elaborated in the epics, places occupied exclusively by the priests or deities in temples.

Names of gods and goddesses as place names The following examples of names of gods and goddesses as place names, picked from across the country, testify this. The city of Vishakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh, derived its name from the deity ‘Vishakha’, the god of valour. Nanded in Maharashtra is widely believed to have originated from ‘Nandi’, the vahana of Lord Shiva, who performed penance on the banks of the river Godavari, which skirts the town. Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala literally splits into ‘Tiru’, ‘Anantha’, ‘Puram’, meaning town of Lord Anantha. The name Ernakulam was drawn from a Tamil word Erayanarkulam, which refers to the abode of Lord Shiva. Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu is a place name that comes from the local goddess Koniyamman. Built on the banks of Yamuna, about three kilometres south of modern Delhi, Indraprastha was the second capital of the Kurus. The name is derived from Indra, the god who performed many religious sacrifices in this city. The literal meaning of the place can be construed as ‘the seat of Indra’. This place continues to be famous as Indraprastha (Law, 1976). Haridwar a town in Uttrakhand means ‘Gateway to Gods’ and is a world-famous place of pilgrimage for Hindus.

Names of personalities from epics as place names Religious associations acquire different forms and manifestations in place names. Hindus have an unshakable faith in the two great epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Several towns are named after the events of Lord Ram, the central god in the epic Ramayana. Illustrations include the place name Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), the birth place of Ram; Saket (Uttar Pradesh), where Ram met a sage; Chitrakoot (spread over Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), where Ram went for exile accompanied by his wife Sita and brother Lakshman; Nashik (Maharashtra), where Lakshman cut off Shrupnakha’s nose; Kishkindha (Karnataka), where Ram met monkey god Hanuman; Lakhanpur, modern day Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), named after Lakshman and Sitamarhi (Bihar), the birthplace of Sita. With a passion to archive place names in this genre, Shyamlal Yadav, a senior editor with the Indian Express (English-language Indian daily newspaper) went

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through over 600,000 village names in India (listed by the Census of India, 2011) and concluded that 3,626 villages carry a place name after Ram; 3,309 after Krishna; 367 adopt Hanuman; 160 refer to Lakshman; 75 are on Sita; 385 take Bhim and 259 resound the name Arjun (Yadav, 2013).

Names of donors to priests as place names With the firm grip of Hinduism, Brahmanas began to occupy prominent places in society and there started the custom of giving large grants of land not only as a gift to temples but also as a gift to these priests. This was an especially popular custom in South India, where Brahmanas were the beneficiaries of the generous gifts of land granted by kings and other chieftains. With these gifts the Brahmanas created exclusive settlements known as the agraharam, or the agra (land) given over to ‘agras’ (Brahmanas). Today there are several settlements in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu that carry the word agraharam in their name. Some of these are: Agraharam (in Peravalimandal, in the West Godavari district); Chintapalliagraharam (in Pentapadumandal, in the West Godavari district) in Andhra Pradesh; Agraharam (in the Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad districts of Kerala); Agrahara (in the Bellary and Mandya districts in Karnataka); Annalagraharam and Ganapathi Agraharam (in the Thanjavur district) and Pallipalayam Agraharam (in the Namakkal district) in Tamil Nadu.

Names of deity in temples as place names A second impact on place names is connected with the construction of majestic temples. When the Brahmanas took their religion to the Deccan, Hinduism itself got transformed with the infusion of bhakti: a notion that has its roots in Tamil culture. The Bhakti Movement started the trend of elaborate rituals in places of worship. This devotion inspired the construction of temples. The earliest temples in India were built in the fifth century ce, but the most impressive ones in North India were built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ce and those in South India were built between the eighth and thirteenth centuries ce (Ramachandran, 2018). When temples were built by the Tamil kings, mostly the Cholas and the Pandavas, the places got their names from temples, as in the case of Ayudaiyar Koil, Krishnan Koil and Kumarakoil (Koil is temple in Tamil). The original names of these places were replaced by temple names (Subramoniam, 2005). This reinforced the belief that in the naming of places priority needs to be bestowed on gods. Wherever temples were raised, the name of place was adapted to that of the god in the sanctum sanctorum. Exemplifying this are: Shree Jagannath Temple of Puri and Sun Temple at Konark on the eastern coast of India; the Somnath and Dwarka temples on the western coast; and the Meenakshi and Mahabalipuram temples in South India.

82  Sanskritization of place names

Under the process of Sanskritization, Hinduism acquired a pan-India identity. One among the many ways to achieve and sustain this unity was to knit North with South India on a firm footing. To this end, place names were used in two ways. First, place names of north India were duplicated in South India. Second, many places scattered across India were given group names. Both these forms of Sanskritization impacted the map of place names.

Duplicating religious place names The heartland of Hinduism was the Gangetic Plain and it nurtured several important pilgrim centres of the country. Place names of many pilgrim centres in North India were duplicated in South India. This is evident in the case of Madurai (Mathura), Makotai (Mohodaya) and Dvarasamudra (Dwarka). In its own turn, South India throughout history had fostered political and trade links with foreign countries, especially South-east Asia. This meant that, when Sanskritization reached South India, the cultural impact also spread out to these countries. Thus, Ayuthaya (Ayodhya), Chanthaburi (Chandrapuri) and Kanchanaburi (Kanchanpuri) are place names in Thailand adapted from India. The spread of Sanskrit outside the borders of India is testified to also by the name Singapore. The word is derived from Sanskrit Simhapura, meaning a den of lions. This connection is attributed to the regal influence of Chola kings of South India, who spoke Tamil but used Sanskrit for titles and names. A discerning feature of Sanskritization was its effort to integrate into India, and it deployed many means to achieve this end. One was to group the scattering of place names under a common banner. Common functions and roles were ascribed to several Hindu religious sites and these were given a group name.

Religious group names Included here are places that offered means of spiritual liberation – Sapta Puri or the seven cities, the 12 Jyotirlingas, the 4 sites of the Kumbh Mela, the 108 Shakti or Sati Peeths, the 5 Kasis and the 4 Dhams (see Figure 4.1). The Sapta Puri are seven cities, pilgrimage to any one of which, in the context of Hinduism, provides liberation from rebirth. These seven places are Mathura, Dwarka, Ayodhya, Haridwar, Kanchipuram, Ujjain and Varanasi. The 12 Jyotirlingas, a set of 12 major pilgrimage places of Siva, are linked not just by a verse but also by a story. All of these places are associated with the story of Siva’s miraculous ‘lingas of light’, linga meaning the iconic representation of Siva. The four sites of India’s most famous and elaborate pilgrimage, the Kumbh Mela, form another set of places. These four places are Haridwar on the Ganga, Ujjain on the Shipra, Nashik on the Godavari and Prayag (Allahabad) on the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna. For this set of places, there is not only a story but also a circuit of pilgrimages. The Kumbh Mela takes place at

Sanskritization of place names  83

FIGURE 4.1 India: Group

place names for sacred Hindu sites.

Source: Compiled by author.

one of these places every 3 years in a cycle of 12 years, strictly regulated by astrological calculations based on the movements of the sun and Jupiter through the zodiac. In the case of the 108 Shakti Peeths, the story brings scattered places together. The word ‘peeth’ means ‘seat’, and ‘shakti’ is a term for feminine divine energy. The Shakti Peeths are the places where parts of the corpse of Siva’s wife Sati fell as he wandered around, grief stricken, carrying her body over his shoulder. Similar are the five places that carry the suffix kasi: Varanasi, also known as Kasi, is on the banks of the Ganga; Uttarakasi is on the way to Gangotri; Gupta Kasi on the way to Kedarnath; Siva Kasi is in the Deccan, 80 kilometres south

84  Sanskritization of place names

of Madurai and 200 kilometres west of Rameshwaram and Tenkasilies between Kollam and Madurai. Kasi derives its name from Sanskrit (kashi) meaning ‘shining’. The common feature among all the Kasis is the worship of the god Siva and a temple dedicated to Him. Finally, there is a set of place names that unites the geographical expanse of India. These are the four Dhams, or ‘abodes of God’, distinguished from one another in terms of the cardinal directions: Dwarka lies in the west of India; Puri in the east; Badrinath (for worshippers of Visnu) or Kedarnath (for worshippers of Siva) in the north and Rameshwaram in the south. This set of four Dhams partially overlaps with the set of the four peeths or seats of the Shankaracharyas, the heads of India’s most prominent order of ascetics. Even at the regional level, one can find grouped place names. The Garhwal region in the Himalayas has four – dham pilgrimage to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri (the source of the river Ganga) and Yamunotri (the source of the river Yamuna). Another set in North India consists of Prayag (Allahabad), Kasi (Varanasi) and Gaya, the three major places of pilgrimage along the river Ganga, which together are referred to as Tristhali. Such grouped place names weld together different parts of India. This is because each one of them plays a similar role in terms of religious practice and this means that a devout Hindu could draw value by visiting any one place or participate at all these locations to complete the tour and the vows of undertaking the pilgrimage. By reinforcing the role of the sacred, these group place names became a thread for the unification of the people of different parts of India. Today Sanskrit is one of the scheduled languages of India and enjoys the status of being one of its ancient languages, but it has no region or place of dominance. It is the mother tongue of 24,821 speakers (Census of India 2011, 2018). Sanskrit is placed in a peculiar situation. It could not pervade and dominate to become the single largest language of India, yet it is the one language that has wielded power to create and influence all the languages of India. Like flowing water, Sanskrit made its way into every language. The most widely spoken language of the country, Hindi, is significantly indebted to Sanskrit. Jones (1786) observed that: ‘Five words in six, perhaps of this language, Hindi, were derived from Sanskrit’. About Bengali, Grierson (1902–1929) noted: ‘By actual counting a Bengali work written in the early part of the 19th century, 80 percent of the words used were pure Sanskrit’. In the fifth century ce, the region of South India was known as Tamizhakam – the land where Tamil is the spoken language. Ancient Tamil had an alphabet of its own, the Vatteluttu, a kind of round writing. The other Dravidian languages came into being as a result of the Sanskritization of the Tamil language (Ramachandran, 2018). Place names were also enriched by the interaction of Sanskrit with other languages. Tholkappiyam, the first ancient Tamil grammar, and other anthologies give a clue that puram is a Tamil word and the root pura stands for protection and high rank. A Dravidian etymological dictionary confirms that the word

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‘pura’ is also found in other Dravidian languages, such as Kannada and Telugu, with the same meaning. To refer to places that were protected by a fort, Tamil people coined the term puram. The appropriateness of the word led to its spread across India. Today there are many South Indian place names with the suffix puram, such as Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu), Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu), Kancheepuram (Tamil Nadu), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and Malappuram (Kerala). Cleary being a robust word, it soon travelled across India. The Sanskrit vocabulary does have many words of resemblance, such as Puranan, Puranam, Puratanam, Purari and Purusan, but these are used either in the sense of antiquity or refer to a Purusha or man (Bhagavathy, 1987). In the fold of Sanskritization, place names were changed. This is seen in the case of old Tamil names. Kachchi became Kanchipura; TiruMaraikkatu became Vetaranyam; Tiruvarankam was changed to Srirangam; Mayilatutur became Mayuram and Kotamukku was changed to Kumbakonam. Similar are cases like Bidaravalli, Beluru, Haduvalli, which became Venupura, Velapuri and Sangitapura respectively (Gowda, 1982). South India has been a focus of research on its place names, so it may seem that this is the only region bearing the impact of Sanskritization. This is not the case; a few examples from the north-east will illustrate that the influence reached all corners of the country. In Manipur, King Pamheiba (1709–1748) adopted Hinduism as the state religion and so patronized Sanskrit. As a result, the name of the sacred grove Monghahanba was changed to Mahabali. Likewise, Lamlangong was changed to Bishenpur, and Langthabal to Kanchipur. In early times, Assam and its adjoining areas was known as ‘Pagarju tie’ an Austric word, meaning a country surrounded by high hills. With a changeof spelling, it is referred to as Pragjyotisha in the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas. The name Assam is connected with the Shan invaders who arrived in the Brahmaputra Valley in the early thirteenth century ce. They called themselves Tai but the indigenous people gave them the title of Asam or Acham, invincible conquerors. It is claimed that Assam may be a latter day Sanskritization of an earlier form of Asam or Acham (Phukan, 2003). An interesting aspect of the change in place name under the influence of Sanskritization needs to be noted. Many Sanskrit names that were introduced bore close resemblance to the meanings of the regional ones. The Malayalam name Guruvayur, a town in Kerala, was changed to Guru-pavana-puram. Here the Malayalam name was split up into Guru ( Jupiter), Vayu (wind) and Oru (place). On this basis, Vayu and Oru were Sanskritized as pavana, the abode of Lord Vishnu whose idol was installed by both Guru and Pavana. The place name Markavu was Sanskritized to Sahakaravaram; here both names mean the forest of the mango trees (Gopikrishnan, 2007). This concern to retain the meaning of a name helped maintain its connection to, and a continuity with,the place. Sanskritization no doubt reinforced the colours of Hinduism in place names but there were many instances where names resonated to capture the dominant feature of the natural environment.

86  Sanskritization of place names

Place names resonating with the natural environment Many place names were rooted in the physical environment. Sindh in Sanskrit means to flow and that is what the Sindh does, it flows. Himalaya finds its derivation from the Sanskrit word hima, referring to ‘frost’ or ‘snow’ while alaya stands for an ‘abode’. The city name Kollam is believed to have its association with the Sanskrit word Kollam, which means pepper. Kollam(a district and a sea port city in Kerala) was world-famous for the export of fine-quality pepper during earlier times. The Sanskrit name for Guntur in Andhra Pradesh was Garthapuri, a place surrounded by water ponds (‘garta’/’gunta’). The name of the capital of Uttarakhand, is Dehradun; Dera means a camp, while Dun is a reference to a local term used for a river valley in the smaller range Shiwalik Ranges of the Himalayas. The place name Champaran in Bihar comes from the forest of magnolia or the champa trees. It is the forest of honey, which lent its name to Madhubani, in Bihar; madhu means sweet like honey. Rohtak in Haryana derives its name from the Roherra tree called Rohtika in Sanskrit. It is said that the town was built by clearing a forest of Rohtika trees. Hooghly, West Bengal is derived from the hogla, a tall reed, which grows in abundance on the riverbanks and in the marshy lowlands below them. The emergence of towns in Tamil country finds an association also with tank irrigation. Tanks are reservoirs built by earthen dams across small streams. There are thousands of such tanks in Tamil Nadu. When the Vijayanagar rulers constructed tanks, they renamed places by adding the Sanskrit generic Samudram, meaning the sea. Timmasamudram, in the Prakasam District, was known as Gudlamadugu in olden days. When a big tank was constructed by Timorous, the minister of Krishnadeva Raya, the latter renamed the place as Timmasamudram (Rao, 1984). Three thousand years is a long time for ideas to ossify and sediment as part of the culture of a society. During this time-span, Sanskritization of place names had its own journey of continuity and change. This is apparent in the case of the river Sutlej. The Rig Veda mentions the name of this river twice as Sutudri. A couple of millennia later, by about the sixth century bce, we find it changed to Satadru in Valmiki’s Ramayana. This form was grammatically easier to explain in terms of ‘which flows into a hundred channels’. Sanskrit lexicons, however, record the name with slight variations, as Sutudru and Sitadru. By about 1100 ce, it had gone through further change and Al-Biruni records its spelling as Satarudra. This was probably the literary form then current in Punjab, side by side with Satadru. In spoken form, it was uttered as Satladar. The journey of the Sutlej from Sutudri to Satarudrika through Satadru-Sutudru-Sitadru-Satarudra and Satladar, illustrates how the process of re-Sanskritization of this name took different expressions at various stages (Bharadwaj, 1986). Confirming the process of re-Sanskritization is the research by the same author of the name Shiwalik, the outer mountain chain of the Himalayas. The name of the Shiwalik Range originates from Salvakagiri. The evolution took place through Salvaka-Salavaka-Savalaka-Shiwalik, involving the metathesis of

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‘la’ and ‘va’. The range was named Salvaka after a formidable tribe of Salvas who were the most powerful among the tribes occupying the region along the Shiwalik belt from the river Ganga to the river Ravi. Indeed, so influential were the Salvas that, apart from this mountain range, a river was also named Salvi after them. Like innumerable other tribes, the Salvas eventually vanished into the melting pot of the time and with them was lost and forgotten the genesis of the name Salvaka. So, when the Mughal Emperor Babur inquired about the name Shiwalik it was explained to him as Samalakha, meaning mountain range of one-and-a-quarter-lakh hills. It must be noted that such a unit could not be visualised in the case of hills. Hence, the association of the Shiwalik Range with the salva tribe carries more conviction (Bharadwaj, 1986). Sanskritization was an all-India process. Its geographical sweep was vast. Its spatio-temporal character left an ingrained mark from which place names could not escape. A characteristic feature of this space-time is that people lived with nature, and religion was central to their life. The place names of the Rig Vedic people were tied to the land; because they believed that prosperity is tied to the land. They also named places after their gods. This, too, is connected with a belief that it is the grace of the gods that provides beneficial conditions for life on earth. India is a land where the gods have thousands of forms and, therefore, many different names. Such a practice allowed a great variety of place names to be introduced into the map of India. The propensity towards a religious bond persists. An example is close to hand. As a consequence of the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, Lahore, the capital of the erstwhile Punjab, was lost to Pakistan. To fill this vacuum, a city was to be planned as the capital of the Indian Punjab. The famous French architect Le Corbusier was drafted in to plan this modern city, which was formally inaugurated in 1953. While Corbusier’s architecturally fascinating buildings carry the message of modernism, the city was named Chandigarh after the name of goddess Chandi or Chandika. A temple in her name is located to the north-east of this site. In spirit and layout, the city reflects modernity, yet strongly echoing in its place name is a religious place in the vicinity. Evidently a bond with Sanskritized place names experienced a revival after the independence of India. This is in spite of the political upheavals, in which Sanskrit was forcibly deposed by Persian, the language of the next wave of people, who came, conquered, settled and ruled over India for over 600 years.

5 PERSIANIZATION OF PLACE NAMES

Travelling in their dooahs (sailing ships), the Arabs came to India in the second century ce. Crossing the Arabian Sea, they named their destination on the coast of Kerala in India as Ma’bar, or a place reached by crossing the sea (Khwaja, 2011). It was the Arabs who first brought Islam to India and these early contacts were in the nature of peaceful assimilation with the locals. They even spoke Malayalam. However, the more voluminous and continuous stream of Muslims were those who entered from the Khyber, a mountain pass connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were motivated by a military zeal and came to loot and plunder the wealth of India and also to spread their religion, Islam. North-west India at that time was also rife with political instability. This political instability paved the way for the Muslim rulers of India. The most ravaging attack was that of Muhammad bin Qasim on Sind in 712 ce. Later in time were the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni, from 1001 ce to 1025 ce. The affluent temple of Somnath in Kathiawar was his particular target, which he repeatedly looted and destroyed. Next were other invaders like the Afghan Muhammad Ghori, towards the close of the twelfth century ce, and the Sultans of Delhi, who ruled from 1206 to 1526. The Muslim rule in India culminated in the arrival of the Mughals, who ruled the country from 1526 to 1857. When the Muslim rulers had firmly established themselves in the saddle, they began to conquer new territories, populate new cities and fortify strategically important ones. On gaining ascendancy over a large part of India, they enforced Persian as the court language. Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, has a vocabulary and a phonetics that are different from those of Sanskrit. Sanskrit is written in Devanagiri, while the script for Persian is Naskh. The impact of Persianization, as in the case of Sanskritization, was not just about the introduction and spread of a new language but more about how Persian became the mouthpiece that heralded the arrival of the Muslims, the religion Islam and their consequent impact

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on place names of India. Through Persianization, place names thus became ‘Persianized’. Persian, however, remained limited as a court language. With time, there was a greatly felt need for a common language for communication between the Indian people and the Arabic-, Turkish- and Persian-speaking invaders. This led to the evolution of Urdu (etymologically linked with the Turkish word odra or military camp). This language symbolized the bond between the common people and the Muslim soldiers and rulers in India. Initially, it was a kind of pidgin language, which essentially is a contrived means of communication and is constructed impromptu through conversation between groups of people speaking mutually unintelligible languages. With the passage of time, Urdu became an increasingly literary language, synchronous with Hindi from the twelfth century onwards, reaching a high point in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Today Urdu is one of the 22 scheduled languages in the Constitution of India. Urdu and Persian are related and share a similar grammar, root words and script. Nearly half of Urdu vocabulary is Persian, the other half is from Hindi. The British scholar J. B. Gilchrist coined the term Hindustani as the language of Hindustan in the eighteenth century. Hindustani leans heavily on the Khariboli dialect of Delhi, and incorporates a large amount of vocabulary from Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic languages. The ruling regime of the Muslims played a significant role within the interplay of these languages, and all of them could be considered to be part and parcel of the Persianization process. The process of Persianization was not just the process of the introduction and subsequent assimilation of a new language, but it also imbibed several intentions. Along with the goal to project India as a cradle of Islamic culture, an attempt to obliterate the pre-Islamic history of India was made, as was an attempt to immortalize the names of the new rulers and commanders. At its core, it was also about the spread of and conversion to Islam. It is within this ecology of a new language, a new victorious power and a new religion that the underlay of place names that had earlier been Sanskritized began to come under the sway of Persianization. Wherever Muslim rule was established, the scale and pace of place-name change was widespread. This is evident in the case of Akbar, noted for laying down a strong and efficient administrative structure. During his reign the empire was divided into 15 provinces or Mughal subahs. The names of subahs carry a distinct ‘Persian’ flavour, both in spelling and pronunciation; there was Dehli, Agrah, Awadh, Illahabad, Behar, Bengalah, Malwah, Ajmere and Ahmadabad. Some of these names were simply a Persianization of existing names. Dillī is the old Hindi form of the name, which became Dehli during the rule of Akbar. The systematical change of place names is illustrated in the book, Sultanatee-Khudadad, where a case is made for this in the kingdom of Mysore by Tipu Sultan. Ruling by the sword and with strength,Tipu Sultan renamed many places: Dindigal as Khaliq Abad, Krishnagiri as Falak-ul-Azam, Paw Gadh as Khatmi, Sangal Driug as Muzaffarabad, Penukonda as Fakhrabad, Qila Bal as

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Muzaffarabad, Malavalli as Gulshanabad, Mangalore as Jamalabad, Devan Halli as Yousufabad, Hoskote as Islampur, Sringapatnam as Zafarabad, Bellary as Samar Patan, Coimbatore as Saklaamabad, Qila Gatti as Faiz Hissar, Nandi Gadh as Gardoon Shikwa, Mysore as Nazarabad, Fairok as Farkhi, Sira as Rustumabad, Calicut as Islamabad, Bangalore as Darus Suroor, Magadi as Savan Gadh and Chital Durg as Farhyab Hisaar (Mahmood, 1939). To gain insight into the spatial pattern and types of changes in place names introduced by Persianization, the names of towns of India have been chosen as a representation. Three reasons guided the decision: first, the names are readily available from the Census of India; second, since towns are distributed across the country, it gives scope to discerning where these names cluster; and third, since the number of towns is smaller than the number of villages, it provided an opportunity to sift the Persian impact on place names: there were 650,244 villages, while the number of towns was 7,935. Among these 7,935 towns of India, ones that carried a ‘flavour’ of Persianization were handpicked. To these belonged the place names that were either fully Persian or carried a suffix or prefix that had been coloured by this process. A study of these brought forth three types of place names: first, those that claimed that the prevailing social milieu was Muslim; second, names that confirmed that political power was in the hands of the Muslims and third, place names which were the flagships of Islam, the new religion. A feature common to all three was the use of Persianized generic words and specific personal names.

Place names reiterating the Muslim social milieu Into the lexicon of place names Persianization introduced a ‘new’ set of words that spelt out loud the social milieu of the Muslims. The devise was to use all methods of referring to human relationships – ones within a family, ones with friends and those that existed within the arena of work and administration – as names of places. Here is a sample: ‘Abu’ means a father;it is seen in the name of town Abupur in Uttar Pradesh. ‘Khalil’ means a friend; it is in Khalilabad in Uttar Pradesh. Rafiganj in Bihar carries along with it ‘Rafig’, meaning companion. An example of the mirroring of professions in place names is Jangl Hakeem, a town in Uttar Pradesh; ‘Hakeem’ is a physician. The name of Qazigund, in Jammu and Kashmir, is about a ‘qazi’, a person who provides justice. Similar to personal relationships the rungs of administration were also used as place names. Sultan stands for ‘authority’ and one has Sultanpur in Madhya Pradesh and Sutlanganj in Bihar; there is also Mirza, which literally means ‘child of the ruler’, and there is Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh. In a similar strand is ‘khan’ or a ‘prince’ in the place names Khan PurDhani in Delhi and Khan Sahin in Jammu and Kashmir. ‘Nawab’ means governor and there are three towns in three districts of Uttar Pradesh named Nawabganj; another example is that of ‘Wazir’, a minister, and the place name Wazirganj (in Uttar Pradesh). A clear gender bias is shown by the fact that few places carry ‘begum’ or ‘lady’ in their names;

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to these privileged few belong Begampur of West Bengal and Begamganj in Madhya Pradesh. Many a place name documents the expressions used for human emotions within this new social milieu. The place names depict positive emotions of bewilderment, ecstasy, joy or surprise. Was it because the landscapes the migrants encountered were new and different? Was it that they came from arid landscapes and the opulence of scenes lush with all kinds of plants and animals and water was a sight to behold? The reasons why a place was so named are sometimes difficult to know. It could well be that these were personal names that carried an ‘emotion’ and were simply imposed on the name for a place. The latter seems the more likely intention of place-name change. The prefix ‘murad’ meaning desire is carried by the town of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. The town was named after prince Murad Baksh, the son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Faridabad in Haryana (‘ farid’ meaning unique) is named after its founder, Shaikh Farid, the treasurer of emperor Jahangir who built a town here.

Personal names of the rulers or commander in chief as place names To immortalize the names of conquerors, in order to consolidate and legitimize the Islamic conquest of India, personal names of rulers or the commanderin-chief the rulers wanted to honour and recognize were used as place names. While these surely would have run into hundreds during the phase of Muslim dominance, in today’s list of towns the ones that have sustained and stand out are places named after the Mughal badshahs. The foundation of the Mughal empire was laid in 1526 by Babur, and the baton passed from Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan to Aurangzeb (who died in 1707). The badshahs are recalled when Agra was renamed Akbarabad; Jahangirabad in Uttar Pradesh and Jangipur in West Bengal are named after Jahangir, who is said to have stayed there for a few days. Another name of Jahangir’s is reflected in Ajmer, which was called Salimabad. Present-day Delhi was in the renamed Shahjahanabad during Shah Jahan’s reign. Shahjahanpur in Madhya Pradesh was a name of the time of Shah Jahan. Aurangabad in Maharashtra was named after Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. There are several villages named after Mughal emperors. Akbar tops the list with 234 villages. His grandfather, Babur, has 62 villages in his name while his father, Humayun, has only 30. There are 51 villages named after Shah Jahan and 8 after Aurangzeb (Yadav, 2013). In the same vein, entire swaths of territory that came under the ruler had settlements that simply carried the generic ‘Shah’, a place that belongs to the king. These include the likes of Shahpura (Rajasthan), Shahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Shahkot (Punjab). Its popularity can be seen by the fact that even today nearly 28 towns carry the prefix Shah. Persianization, thus, also introduced the prefix Shah to several place names. The reason for associating the place name with the king was not without significance. Place names were changed to drive home the victory and valour of the king.

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An additional mode to please, appease and flatter the king was to adorn place names with honorific epitaphs. Many such examples can be listed: Delhi bore the appellation Hadrat-Sultan, the Royal Presence of His Majesty and Darul-Mulk, the seat of the kingdom. Bhopal is mentioned as Darul Iqbal, the house of fortune. Cambay in Gujarat was honoured as the Darul Muminin, the house of the faithful. Aurangabad was given the epithet of Khujista Bunya, signifying an auspicious foundation, a place where Aurangzeb stayed for years on end (Quddusi, 2004). Since personal names standing alone would be misleading, the devise adopted was to stitch a suffix or prefix to them. These suffixes were not used randomly and more often than not capture the location, or size or function of a settlement. This means that while the personal name was completely alien and had little or no connection with the characteristics of the place, the suffix or prefix was a way of relating to the specifics of place. Here are a few examples. A popular suffix is ‘abad’, which in Persian means cultivated place, with its root from ab which means water. Later, abad came to signify a populated settlement. Aurangabad can be interpreted as a city populated on the orders of Aurangzeb. Sikandrabad in Uttar Pradesh was built by Sikandar Lodhi around 1498. Another town in the same state of India is Shikohabad, named after Dara Shikoh, the eldest brother of Emperor Aurangzeb. Ghaziabad gets its name from the founder Ghazi-ud-din who called it Ghaziuddinnagar after himself. Later, the name was shortened to Ghaziabad. Today, of the 640 districts of India, 18 district names carry the suffix abad. Illustrating these are Adilabad, Ahmadabad, Allahabad, Aurangabad, Faizabad, Faridabad, Farrukhabad, Fatehabad, Firozabad, Ghaziabad, Hoshangabad, Hyderabad, Jehanabad, Moradabad, Murshidabad, Nizamabad and Osmanabad. All these belong to territories that were under Muslim rulers, who changed the original names of places. Ahmadabad is the largest city of Gujarat. The site of Ahmadabad had been developed since the eleventh century. It was known as Ashaval at that time. Karna, the Chaulukya ruler of Anhilwara (modern Patan), waged war against the Bhil king of Ashaval, and established a city called Karnavati on the same site, on the adjoining banks of the river Sabarmati. When Gujarat came under the control of Ahmed Shah in 1411 ce, the name Karnavati was replaced, in his honour, with Ahmadabad. An additional consideration was probably to give credit to three other Ahmads, namely, Shaikh Ahmad, Malik Ahmad and Qadi Ahmad, who were all known for their piety and righteousness and were together asked to lay the foundation stone of the city (Ganam, 1987). Fatehabad in Haryana was founded by the Emperor Firoz Shah Tughlaq in 1352 ce and named after his son Fateh Khan. Adilabad in Telangana derives its name from the erstwhile ruler of Bijapur, Adil Shah. Tipu Sultan who ruled the kingdom of Mysore from 1782 to 1799 renamed many places: Coorg was renamed Zafarabad, Mysore was renamed Nazarabad, Calicut became Islamabad and Coimbatore was replaced by Salamabad. Whereas abad refers to any populated place, shahar, a Persian word, is specific to a town. Sadulshahar in Rajasthan is named after Maharaja Sardul Singh,

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son of Maharaja Ganga Singh, who established it. The town Sardarshahar is named after Sardar Singh, a Maharaja of Bikaner, Rajasthan from 1851 to 1872. ‘Qasbah’ is an Arabic word for market town, and there is Kasba Khanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Kasba Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Vadgaon Kasba (Maharashtra) and the Barwaha Kasba in Madhya Pradesh. Ganj is an Urdu word meaning ‘neighbourhood’ or ‘trading post’. In 1756, Nawab Meer Bisharat Ali resided in the town in Uttar Pradesh named Bisharat Ganj. Kot means fort, and since these were commonly build to guard settlements, today over a dozen towns carry this suffix. Sherkot, a town in Uttar Pradesh means the ‘Fort of Sher’. It was founded during the reign of Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan who became the ruler of North India between 1540 and 1545. The Mughals were itinerants, and camping sites were referred to with a specific set of words like dera (camp), katra (caravan point), with the most popular being serai or resting place. Nearly 30 towns in India bear the stamp of these stages in the royal journey. Representing this connection are place names like Begusarai and Lakhisarai in Bihar; and Saraikela Kharswan in Jharkhand, which carries the Persian prefix serai, the equivalent of a modern-day motel, a place where travellers rest to recover from the day’s journey. The classic example of this is none other than the Mughalsarai, located along the Grand Trunk Road, also called Sadak-e-Azam by Sher Shah Suri. It was one of the corridors connecting North India with the east during the Mughal period. On travel and pleasure trips, often a ‘natural feature’, be it a distinct landscape or a specific plant and animal, could also gain recognition by reference in a place name. The number of such names is small and of this handful are three types that stand out: one associated with vegetation (bagh, gul, gulab); the second specifically with water (dariya (river), jaffar (rivulet) and talab (pond) and the third with animals (shikar)). Pleasure and awe is one explanation for names inspired by nature. Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir is a classic example. Here the alpine meadow, sprinkled with flowers, befits the choice of name for place. The name of town ‘Hazaribagh’ in Jharkhand constitutes two Persian words: Hazar meaning ‘one thousand’ and bagh meaning ‘garden’. Hence the meaning of Hazaribagh is ‘city of a thousand gardens’. Take the case of shikar (hunt) and shikari (hunter) in place names. Hunting was a favourite sport, be it of the elephant, the deer, the nilgai (blue bull) or sher (lion). The list of towns contains the likes of Shergarh in Uttar Pradesh and Sherpurain Gujarat. The names Shikar (Punjab) and Shikarpur (Uttar Pradesh) resonate with a similar ethos. The nobility indulged in sport with great enthusiasm and shikar was a royal privilege. One can conjecture that names that carry the prefix shikar could, at one time, have been hunting grounds.

Confirming victory through place names During the time of Islamic rule, India became a land of ceaseless battles and feuds between Muslim and Hindus and Muslims and Muslims. Place names were, thus, changed to drive forward the claims of the victory and valour of the king.

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As and when a battle was fought, the winning troops assigned the place with a Persian word, Fateh, meaning victory. At times such a place of triumph was named Zafarabad. Zafar and Fateh are synonymous. Fatehpur Sikri derives its name from the village called Sikri, which occupied the spot before the city was founded by Akbar in 1569. It served as the capital of the Mughal empire from 1571 to 1585 and the prefix Fateh was added to Sikri, after Akbar won the Gujarat campaign in 1573. Fatehabad in Uttar Pradesh was renamed by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb after his victory over his brother Dara Shikoh in 1658. To commemorate the victory over Shah Shuja in 1659, fought at the tank of Khajwa in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh, Aurangzeb renamed the place Fatehpur. In Census of India (2011) there are as many as 19 towns that carry the prefix fateh. The prefix depicts the urge to emboss a victory on a place by renaming it. Most, if not all of these invasions were ferocious and driven by a military zeal to plunder and loot. This meant that, more often than not, parents or families were inclined to bestow on their sons personal names that carried meanings that envisaged them to be brave and courageous. Exemplifying this are personal names like Himmat (courage), Bahadur (brave), Gazi/Ghazi (war champion, conqueror) and Muzaffar (triumphant). When a historical event unfolded, these personal names translated into place names with a simple suffix ‘abad’ or ‘ganj’. The town named Muzaffarnagar was founded in 1633 near the site of an ancient town, Sarwat, by the son of a Mughal commander Sayyid Muzaffar Khan during the reign of Shah Jahan. Ghaziabad is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh founded by Wazir Ghazi-ud-din, a minister of emperor Muhammad Shah in 1740.

Religious place names A more direct impact of Persianization on the change of place names was by way of associating it with the name of God, Allah. Though there are 99 variants of the name Allah, the most popular is, of course, Allah. Such an ethos got transferred into the naming process. The epithet Allah was reserved for settlements higher in hierarchy or for sites of Hindu pilgrimage. This is because, in their zeal to assert the supremacy of Islam and to propagate its cause, the Muslims not only destroyed temples but also renamed Hindu religious places. Here is a classic case. According to the Mahabharata, Brahma who is the progenitor of all beings performed a sacrifice at the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. The place came to be known as Prayaga, pra signifying something of a high order and yaga denoting sacrifice. ‘Abd-ul-Qadir Bada’uni, a historian of Akbar’s time, states that the emperor visited Prayaga in 1575 and laid the foundation of the imperial city which he called Ilhabas. Thus, the place name Prayag, found in literary sources and inscriptions, got changed to Allahabad (Prakash, 2002). Exemplifying the same trend are the examples of Ayodhya, which was obscured by Faizabad and Devagiri, which was renamed as Daulatabad; Anantnag as Islamabad and Banaras was known as Muhammadabad.

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Monotheistic Islam has different names for their religion and their Prophet. These various forms are found across place names in India. There are six urban place names in India today that are called ‘Islampur’ or ‘Islamnagar’ and thus carry a direct referral to religion. The distribution is widespread, so there is one Islampur each in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and two in West Bengal. Maharashtra has a town named Uran Islampur. In a similar vein of direct reference to the religion are places that carry the name of the Prophet Mohammad. Thus, there is Mohammadabad and Mohammadi, both in Uttar Pradesh and Mohammadpur Majri in Delhi. Ibrahim is the Arabic name of the Prophet. There is Ibrahimpatnam in Telangana and Ibrahimpur in Delhi. Mehmad is the Turkish form of Muhammad and there is Mehmedabad in Gujarat. But matters do not end here. The names of messengers, saints and friends and servants of the Prophet are also engrained as place names. Rahim is the most merciful ‘aziz’ or friend of Allah and there is Abdu Rahiman Nagar in Kerala and Rahimatpur in Maharashtra. Rasuli is a messenger of Allah and there are the likes of the town named Rasulpur in Punjab, while the corrupt form of Abdullah, or the little servant of Allah, resounds in the place name Obedullaganj, a town in Madhya Pradesh. Building the glory of Islam are a number of place names, which carry suffixes like ‘rab’, ‘khuda’ and ‘ali’. So, there is Khudaganj and Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. Not to be left out is Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for the Muslims. Haji is one who has performed this pilgrimage, and there are two towns by the name of Hajipur – one in Bihar and the other in Punjab. Persianization and Sanskritization share many similarities. Both involved a distinct language, a new script and a new religion. Both became court languages, both had arrived in India from ‘outside’ and both changed the character of place names in India. The process of Sanskritization continued almost uninterrupted for over three millennia, while in the case of Persianization it was for less than one millennium. Both marked their imprints on the place names of India but the two differed in their spatial spread and temporal longevity. Sanskritization presence was pan-Indian and lasting. Persianization, on the other hand, was confined to parts of North India and a few pockets in the Deccan. The two differed in their spirit and purpose as well. Sanskritization introduced place names that resonated with the natural or the religious landscape. The attempt was to hand-hold the regional languages and use place names to knit an all-India cohesiveness. Such place names reinforced the distinct diversity of India. By contrast in the Persianization phase there was a tendency to favour person centric place names along with ones which resonated with Islam. As a consequence Sanskritzed names were obliterated. A disconnect of names with place was all too visible. This disassociation also meant that names underwent rapid change. Take personal names, for example, whose durability was short-lived. This happened either because a new ruler conquered the place or the existing ruler became fragile with age and the place name was therefore altered accordingly. Such changes were not infrequent. Khadki was the original name of the village

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in Maharashtra that was made a capital city by Malik Ambar in 1616. It grew into a populous city within a decade. Malik Ambar died in 1626. He was succeeded by his son Fateh Khan, who changed the name of Khadki to Fatehnagar. In 1653, when the Mughal prince Aurangzeb was appointed viceroy of the Deccan he made Fatehnagar his capital and renamed it Aurangabad. Delhi is another case of this type of name ‘replacement’. The city was known as Lal Kot during the time of the Tomar rulers. During the time of the Chauhan rulers, it came to be known as Qila Rai Pithora. The early Sultans of Delhi, the Mamluks, preferred calling their capital Dihli. When Ala-ud-din Khilji came to power he developed it under the name of Siri Fort. The Tughlaqs renamed the city Tughlaqabad, which still exists as its one fortified segment. Among the seven successive cities on the site of Delhi, the sixth was founded on the banks of the Yamuna by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. He made it the capital of the empire and renamed it Shahjahanabad, after his own name. Therefore, with Persianization, place names based on the names of individuals become popular but, in most cases, these were ephemeral. When Islamic rule began to lose its grip over India many place names began to somersault back to their Sanskrit or regional-language origin. The decline of the Mughal empire was caused by the religious fanaticism of Aurangzeb, which gave a new lease of life to the revival of Hinduism. By now the trend in favour of Sanskritization had already been set by the saints of Bhakti (devotional) Movement. Included among them were Surdas (1478–1583), Kabir (1440– 1510), Guru Nanak (1469–1539) and Tulsidas (1532–1623), many of whom were contemporaries in the Sultanate and Mughal periods. They helped revive the spirit of Hinduism and also the Sanskrit language. In spite of the long and oppressive rule of the Muslims for over six centuries, Sanskrit never died out in the country. The religious sacrosanctity with which the people of India treated Sanskrit kept the language alive. It enjoyed continuing patronage among eminent scholars, mostly belonging to the Brahmin or priestly caste. The Bhakti Movement rekindled the process of Sanskritization and led to the revival of older place names. This meant that when the grip of Muslim rule began to loosen, many Persianized place names reverted to their older, Sanskrit counterpart, or to regional diction. The city of Patna was chronicled as Pataliputra in historic times. During the period of the Lodhi dynasty, it was named as Rasulpur and the Mughals called it Azimabad. Later, its name was restored as Patna (Khwaja, 2011). Gorakhpur is situated 280 kilometres to the east of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. It was named after an ascetic Goraksha, popularly known as Gorakhnath. In 1680, Aurangzeb’s son Muauzzam, later known as Bahadur Shah I, came to Gorakhpur for hunting and in his honour the place was given the name as Muazzamabad (Prakash, 2005). The fact that the name Muazzamabad is mentioned in the official records only from 1680 to 1801 confirms that the place name Gorakhpur bounced back to life within a short span. Tipu Sultan (1782–1799), the ruler of Mysore kingdom, had substituted

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the Hindu names of almost every town in his domain with Islamic ones. After his death, these new names had already fallen into disuse and the old names had been reintroduced by 1801 (Silva, 1963). Persian was dislodged as the court language in the early 1830s, but it was replaced by English and not Sanskrit. Crossing over by sea, the European colonists, more specifically the British, were the next to influence the character of place names in India. Though colonial rule was for a comparatively shorter span, it nevertheless made an indelible impression on place names of the country, markedly different from that of Sanskritization and Persianization.

6 ENGLISHIZATION AND ANGLICIZATION OF PLACE NAMES

Driven by an acute pressure on resources, and reeling under a severe economic crisis, the Europeans launched themselves onto the world’s oceans with a single objective – to explore and to exploit the world. A long coastline and a maritime orientation were to their advantage. That they were successful in their intentions is evident from the fact that towards the close of nineteenth century, the European powers controlled nearly 75 percent of the world’s population. India was among the numerous countries under their sway. The Europeans came as traders but, by posing as explorers and claiming to be reformers, they ruled like emperors and exploited India. One of the instruments used by the British to gain supremacy over India was to change the names of places. Among the Europeans, the Portuguese were the first to arrive in India, and the last to leave. Vasco da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar Coast in May, 1498. He ushered in the era of European presence and trade in the Indian Ocean, which, in addition to the Portuguese, included the Dutch, Danes, French and English. While all of them acquired varying sizes of territory and enjoyed control for different periods of time in India, the presence of each of them nevertheless left their mark in the lexicon of place names of the country. Though the Portuguese were the first to arrive, territorially they remained confined to Goa, Daman and Diu, and also Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which remained under their control from 1510 to 1961. The port town of Goa, founded by the Portuguese, was called Vasco da Gama. A popular name for the place today is Vasco (Gokhale, 1994). The Portuguese set up a port at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. They named it Porto Novo, which, in Portuguese, means New Port. Vasai, another port favoured by the Portuguese is a name from a Sanskrit word that means a settlement. When this port came under the control of the Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao in 1739, its name was changed to Bajipura. Located on the Konkan coast

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of India, it experienced phases of transition and emerged as the capital of the Portuguese Province of the North. Under the Portuguese, Vasai was renamed Bacaim (Karmarkar, 2009). The Dutch presence in India lasted from 1605 to 1825. This was in the form of the Dutch East India Company, whose main interest was the exchange of Indian textiles with the spices of the East Indies. Notably, the conquest of the Strait of Malacca by the Dutch in 1641 made the first breach in the Portuguese supremacy of the Indian Ocean, which then gave way to rivalry among other maritime nations of Europe – chiefly Denmark, France and England. The Dutch, however, were more interested in colonizing the East Indies rather than having a firm footing in India. Therefore, any impact they would have had on place names is indiscernible. By comparison, the Danes had a colony in India from 1620 to 1845 at Tranquebar, presently known as Tharangambadi in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. As they voyaged from Tranquebar to Queda in Malaysia, they halted at the Nicobar Islands. The Danish East India Company set up a commercial unit on these islands in 1756, which they named Frederic’s Islands in honour of Frederick V, the king of Denmark-Norway. Along similar lines, the diary of a missionary serving in the Nicobar Islands in 1770 informs us that the Danes had named these islands New Denmark (Haensel, 1812). Among the Danes it was common to name the colonized after their royal family or native land. Today, any sign of Danish presence in the Nicobar Islands is limited to the names of the two islands of Teressa and Trinket. Likewise, the city of Serampore in West Bengal, where the Danes had raised another settlement, was given the name of Frederiksnagore, after the Danish King Frederick V. They marked their presence here from 1755 to 1845. The French East India Company was floated in Paris in 1664. Though the French were keen on extending their territorial spread in India, the British kept them confined to a very limited area. In 1674, the French laid the foundations of the port of Pondicherry, which is a Tamil word meaning a new town. This city, known as Puduccheira in the sixteenth century, was developed as a port and administrative centre by the French East India Company after 1674. It was taken by the Dutch in 1693 and by the British several times during the course of several wars with the French in the eighteenth century but returned to the French in 1816. It remained the main French settlement in India until its gradual merger with independent India (Mansingh, 1998). The territories of French India were completely transferred to the Republic of India de facto on November 1, 1954, and de jure on August 16, 1962. These territories of French India became the union territory of Pondicherry, consisting of four coastal enclaves. The union territory carried the name Pondicherry till 2006 when it was renamed Puducherry, while the city still retains the name Pondicherry. French Rocks is another interesting example of a name associated with the French, this one literally cast in stone. When the French had helped Tipu Sultan in his fight against the British, the former had camped at Hirode. Hirodehad two rocky hills and this small town came

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to be known as French Rocks. Later, when this area was included as a taluk in the Mysore state, its name as French Rocks continued (Dhanaraj, 2014). The Portuguese, Danes and French have all left their impression on place names in India but these were limited in scale and scope compared to the impact of the British. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the political map of India was highly fragmented, with hundreds of small kingdoms. Much of India was in a state of anarchy, in the absence of strong rulers. The British took over the country in a short time and in a strategic manner. It was the British who were successful in raising themselves up from the status of traders to rulers of India. They set out with their trading posts – at Surat in 1600, at Madras in 1639, at Bombay in 1688 and at Calcutta in 1698 – in the name of East India Company and, by 1857, had turned India into a British colony. Economic exploitation was the primary aim of the British in taking over India. This intention had manifested itself in their scheme of changing the place names of the country. The British impact on place names in India was of two kinds: first, in the nature of Englishization, and second in the spirit of Anglicization. The distinction between the two processes is important. In the case of the former, personal English names and words were introduced into the vocabulary of place names in India; in the latter case, the spellings of Indian place names were changed to suit the British pronunciation and so were Anglicized. While Englishization and Anglicization differed in their forms, characters and extent of impact on place names in India, nevertheless the common aspiration in both these processes was to wield efficient administrative control through the instrument of place names.

Englishization of place names The process, which I call Englishization, of the place names of India, occurred in two ways. The first is the use of personal English names as place names and the second is the use of English words in place names.

English names as place names The British introduced two types of personal English names in India – first, in the form of names of their spouses and second, in the form of the names of British officers who served in India. The division is interesting. The former gives a clue to how affectionately they missed their dear ones and their homeland; and the latter tells us about the pride they carried in serving in India, their work-land. In the overall scheme of things, the latter were more frequent and were ascribed to more important places. The British officials who carried out their duties in India in an exemplary way were to be honoured and remembered. These were the officers who served in the army, were efficient revenue collectors or held top positions in the British administration. Their personal names became place names.

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Unlike Persianization, in the Englishization phase, the British largely took the initiative to introduce personal English names essentially in the ‘new places’ they had raised or discovered. Perhaps this gave them a sense of legitimacy. To the former category of new places belonged the hill stations, plantations, railway stations and cantonments. Into the second category fell the ‘unnamed places’, such as a volcano or an island, that they claimed to have discovered. In most cases, the British claim was that such places were discovered by them and were unknown to the local people and the rest of the world. England lies in a temperate latitude, whereas India is a tropical and subtropical country. This difference of climate between the two countries led the British to create two special landscapes in India; first, the hills stations, and second, the plantations. Since both were British creations, these were baptized with English names.

English names for hill stations Seeking a salubrious climate away from the scorching tropical heat of the plains of India, the British, and especially their army, developed nearly 50 hill stations in the Himalayas and also in the hills of South India. These stations were created as ideal retreats away from India’s densities of population. This environment also made it possible to introduce European housing, recreation clubs and sports grounds and to create a more compelling and recognizable landscape replicating home. The hill stations were given English names. Mention can be made of Horsley Hills (Andhra Pradesh), Wilson Hills (Gujarat), Dalhousie and McLeodganj (Himachal Pradesh), and Mussoorie, Landour and Lansdowne (Uttarakhand), among many more. The ecology of the Himalayas was such a haven that the British made Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) their ‘summer capital’. The name Shimla was not given by the British, but was derived from Shyamala Devi, a reincarnation of a Hindu goddess.

English names for plantations A second invention of the British in India were the tea and coffee plantations. These beverage crops could not be raised in England due to climatic constraints. The earnings from export of these commodities to England and other colonies were the main motives for laying out gardens spread over large estates, in favourable localities of India. These were mainly in the north-east and the south-west of India. Many an English place name was attached to these places. As per the directory of the Tea Board of India, there are 324 tea estates and gardens in West Bengal. Out of the total of 324, one out of every eight is an English name, therefore the total of English names is 43. These are visible as one drives through the district of Darjiling, where names like Diana, Marionbarie, Margaret’s Hope, Anne Hills, Bloomfield and Liza Hills, are common on the sign boards of tea estates. Most of these are personal names of women. They could well be the

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wives or daughters of the original developers of tea gardens, who enjoyed lives of luxury on the estates.

English names for railway stations The British built the first railway out of Bombay to Thane in 1853. Today India boasts of the largest railway networks in the world. Railway stations are the third type of ‘place’ raised by the British. There are an estimated 8,500 railway stations in India today. Some of these carry English names. Clutterbuckganj railway station, called by the acronym C. B. Ganj, is located on the Northern railway line. Peter Clutterbuck was a British administrator and forest conservator. McCluskieganj railway station belongs to the East Central Railways. A town in Jharkhand, to which this railway station is attached, is also named after the British businessman, McCluskie, who founded the Colonisation Society of India in 1933 to support the Anglo-Indian community. Hamiltonganj railway station on the North-East Frontier Railway line is named after Major General Ian Hamilton, who served the British Army in India and held the post of Inspector of Signals in Punjab and Bengal. Barog railway station on the Kalka-Shimla railway line is named after an English engineer who made a heroic attempt to construct a 1.14-kilometre – long tunnel at the site but who, on being unsuccessful, committed suicide.

English names for cantonment As a part of the policy of strategic control, the fourth type of place laid out by the British in India was the cantonment. The word cantonment is derived from the French word canton, meaning a temporary shelter or resting place for an army unit. It refers to a place where an army, during its campaign, is encamped for a period. India today has 62 notified cantonments. While only a small number carry an English personal name, such as Dalhousie Cantonment in Himachal Pradesh, Port Blair Cantonment in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and St Thomas Mount Cantonment in Chennai, nevertheless what persists as a feature of placename terminology is the suffix cantonment. Since the movement of goods and personnel is of utmost necessity for these military bases, most are located close to a city and all are accessible by rail. This also means that some railway stations carry the word cantonment as a suffix to their name: Agra Cantt, Ambala Cantt, Delhi Cantt and Bangalore Cantt (Cantt being an abbreviated form of the word cantonment).

Personal English names for settlements In addition, the British were also keen to honour some of their compatriots and so did not hesitate to rename islands, cities and towns after their name. One territory in India, which perhaps houses the maximum number of personal English names as place names, is the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. More than

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90 percent of the Andaman Islands carry an English name. This is not because Archibald Blair (1752–1815), a naval surveyor and a lieutenant in the Bombay marine office, was the first one to scientifically chart the Andaman Islands but rather because the British had hostile relationships with the native Andamanese and so could not communicate with them. As a result, the British had no way of knowing the names that the tribal population had given to these islands. Given the hostility, the British were keen to stamp their authority, and the use of place names was one such way. The British christened the islands with English names. In 1789, in the Andaman Islands, Lieutenant Blair discovered the harbour for the settlement and christened it Port Cornwallis, after the then Governor General Lord Cornwallis. In 1858 the port was renamed Port Blair, in honour of Lieutenant Blair who discovered it. It is the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and is the largest urban concentration on these islands. Neil Island, lying north-east of Port Blair, is named after Brigadier James Neil, who had dealt sternly with the rebels during the suppression of the Sepoy Mutiny or Revolt of 1857. He was infamous for the indiscriminate killing of native Indians during the uprising. North of Neil Island is Havelock Island, named after Major General Henry Havelock. He was a British general who is known for the recapture of Cawnpore (present-day Kanpur) during 1857. Sir Donald Martin Stewart served on Ross Island for one year, and was later appointed as the first Chief Commissioner of Andaman Penal Colony from 1872 to 1875. To his credit goes the name Stewart Island. There are examples from other parts of India. Most of the personal English place names were hybrids, with the prefix or suffix in two different languages – one English and the other Hindi or Persian. A common Persian suffix was ‘ganj’, which means a market or neighbourhood. The settlement called McLeodganj in Kangra of Himachal Pradesh was named after Sir Donald Friell McLeod. He was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab and one of the founders of Panjab University. Forbesganj is today a town in Purnea division of Bihar. It is situated close to the border of Nepal. It is named after A. J. Forbes, once an indigo planter in the Purnea district. An inconspicuous town in Saran district in Bihar is Revelganj. Situated 12 kilometres west of the district headquarters town of Chapra, it was named after Henry Revel, who served as the Collector of Customs at Chapra. Robertsganj is located inSonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It was named after Field Marshal F. S. Roberts, who served in the British army in India and led the British forces to a success in the Second Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa. Situated on the Koel River, Daltonganj, are the administrative headquarters of the Palamu district of Jharkhand, named after Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton (1815–1880), an anthropologist and the District Commissioner of Chota Nagpur in 1861. Ellenabad, a town in Sirsa district of Haryana, was renamed by the Commissioner Robert Hutch after his wife, Madam Ellena. She had given birth to a child in the town of Kharial, which Hutch renamed as Ellenabad in appreciation of the facilities provided at this place. The trend continues even in recent times. Jim Corbett National Park in Nainital district of Uttarakhand

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is the oldest national park in India. It was set up to protect the endangered Royal Bengal tiger. It had been established in 1936 as Hailey National Park. In 1957, the park was renamed after Jim Corbett, who was a hunter tracker turned conservationist. Persianization had also introduced many personal names as place names in different parts of India. Unlike the British, Persianization replaced and changed the existing Sanskritized names. The English place names, on the other hand, were used mainly for ‘new’ settlements or places they raised, such as the hill stations, plantation gardens, railway stations, cantonments, or were their discoveries, such as Barren Island or the Silent Valley. Also in contrast to Persianization, the British refrained from introducing religious names. Place names like Jesus or Christ are not common to the place name landscape of India. An occasional prefix, St., as a short from of the word saint was an exception. Fort St. George was the first fortress raised by the British in India at the coastal city of Madras, the present-day Chennai. The fort was completed on April 23, 1644 coinciding with St. George’s Day, and thus was christened as Fort St. George. Another such example was St. Thomas Mount, near Chennai, the second oldest cantonment established in India in 1774. The name comes from that of the hillock where St. Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, breathed his last when on a visit to India. There is no denying that British missionaries were engaged in converting the people of India to Christianity but, for the British, religion was obviously not a point of focus or a plan for changing place names in India. The British were not all about personal glorification. Their wider and clear purpose was to designate and administer India, a country they found to be vast in size and difficult to comprehend. To this end, they introduced and attached common English words to place names so that the latter could become easy to identify and remember.

English words as place names Two types of common English words were used: one the descriptors and other the qualifiers. The former refer to the physical geography of the place while the latter make a reference to the political geography of the place.

Descriptive English words as place names The names, which function like descriptors, are associated with places that the British claimed to have discovered. These were given names that commemorated their character and flagged the progress of geographical discovery under the tutelage of the British. Barren Island finds its location in the Andaman Sea and is dominated by the only confirmed active volcano in India. The British named it ‘barren’ since it had no habitation and was rather isolated within the cluster of Andaman Islands. Landfall Island is the northern most one in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

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While sailing from Calcutta, this was the first island that the ships saw. Hence, it was christened Landfall. False Point is a low headland in the Bay of Bengal. It derives its name from the circumstance that British vessels proceeding up the Bay of Bengal frequently mistook it for Point Palmyras, which in fact is located nearly a degree further north. Silent Valley in the Palakkad district of Kerala is one of the lesser environmentally disturbed tracts of the South Western Ghats. The first modern investigation of the watersheds of the Silent Valley was made in 1857 by the botanist Robert Wight. The perceived absence of noisy cicadas gained it the name of Silent Valley. Cardamom was introduced as a large-scale plantation crop at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its cultivation on the hills, against the backdrop of Travancore, spread so quickly that these ranges became famous as the Cardamom Hills. Evidently the names, Barren, False, Silent or Cardamom, capture the geography of place. English words were used to capture the connection between the name and the geography of the place. Where the British were enchanted by a location but perhaps could not find a befitting name, they drew upon names from the mythology. The southernmost point of India is at the lower tip of the Nicobar Islands. The British named the place Pygmalion, after the ancient Greek legend. The myth goes as follows: Pygmalion could find nothing good in women, and he resolved to live out his life unmarried. Nonetheless, he carved a famous statue out of ivory so beautiful and perfect that he fell in love with it. At a festival, he prayed to the goddess of love, Aphrodite, that the statue might come to life. When he reached home, to his amazement, he found that his wish had been granted. He proceeded to marry the statue, which he named Galatea. To complete the story, one of the rivers of Great Nicobar has been named Galatea. English common names, as descriptors, extended to places where the British wanted to proclaim their control or facilitate their recognition. In the case of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, several islands were given the descriptive names as Table Island, Point Island, Flat Island, Long Island, Square Island and even Brother Island and Sister Island. The idea was to keep the names simple for British officers. Used in similar vein were descriptors pertaining to hills, tribes and cardinals: Naga Tribal Area, Mizo Hills District, Orissa Tribal Mahals, Satluj Hill States and Punjab Hill States. Significant use was also made of cardinal points of the compass, as in the case of East Bengal, North East Frontier Tract, Central India Agency, Eastern States Agency, North-Western Province and Western India States Agency.

Qualifying English words as place names Another category of English words that were added were those that qualified the nature of the political relationship between territory and the British administration. There were three main types of territorial arrangements that the British had carved out in the administration of the country. The first were the territories under their direct control. These were known as the Governor’s, Lieutenant

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Governor’s and Chief Commissioner’s provinces and came under the command of the Government of India. Second were territories that were under the rule of native princes. These were known as princely states and were subject to indirect control by the British. The third category consisted of a group of princely states that were under the constant supervision of an agent of the Governor General or Governor. These went under the title of Agency. Illustrations include Eastern States Agency, referring to a group of princely states located in East India, Central India Agency (present day Madhya Pradesh) and Rajputana Agency (present-day Rajasthan). All these territorial arrangements became part of the place names. Evidently, the British marked their presence on the place-name map of India by introducing personal English names and English descriptors and qualifiers into the lexicon. While these two were important indicators of the colonial imprint they are nevertheless insignificant when compared to the dramatic and wholescale changes in place names that were associated with the process of Anglicization. To begin with, what is Anglicization?

Anglicization of place names Anglicization refers to the changes made to place names to make them easier to spell, pronounce or understand in English. It was a process adopted to suit the convenience of the British, which led to a change in spellings of place names in India. The British called this ‘standardization’ of place names. Since the orthography was changed in order to benefit the English-speaking population, a better expression for this process would be Anglicization. Here, it is necessary to understand the circumstances that propelled the process of Anglicization; the way it was put into practice, and the impact it had on the place names of India. It may be underlined here that Anglicization was a single measure, which altered the complexion of place names across India. Unlike the processes of Sanskritization and Persianization, Anglicization was not about religion, nor was its intention to delete the past. The Anglicization of place names was guided by the commercial and administrative interests of the British in India. In particular, they were keen to locate, identify, extract, collect, transport and export the wealth of the natural and economic resources of the country. Included therein were minerals, forest products, agricultural products and the best of handicraft and industrial goods. To realize this objective, the British charted an extraordinary blueprint. The lineaments of this design included mapping the country, taking stock of its population, creating a ready document of its facts and figures and laying the lines of transport and communication in the form of the railway network and the postal system. In 1767, in order to map the land and measure its length, breadth and elevation, in details and with exactitude, they set up the Survey of India, which was shifted to Dehradun in 1942. The need to accurately map the country is evident from the fact that even as late as 1725, the river Ganges, for example, was

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drawn as rising near Taskent, which was placed at about 48°N latitude and 92°E longitude; Delhi was placed in the latitude belonging to Surat; and Agra 560 miles north of its correct location, at about 28°N (Burgess, 1891). An enumeration of India’s population and an understanding of its composition was no less essential. Towards that end, the Census of India was established in 1861 at Calcutta. To aid a systematic documentation of the country, imperial gazetteers and settlement reports were prepared, not only for the whole of India but also individually for its various provinces, princely states and even districts. To speedily dispatch its orders, the East India Company opened the first public Post Office in 1837. The first commercial train journey in India, from Bombay to Thane, took place in 1853. The colonial government wanted a record to be drawn up of the land tenures, thus, uniformity of spelling of the terms and place names became important. All this was meticulously executed. The surveys, maps and gazetteers were veritable sources of facts, figures and information about the land and the people of India. The railways carried goods, people and, significantly, army personnel. To courier the letters, official notices and dictates of the high command was the task of the post and telegraph offices. Place names were at the heart of all of this. Maps carry no meaning without the language of place names. Place names condition maps; it is through a name that a map confers value on an area. A gazetteer is a geographical treatise about places arranged alphabetically according to the place names. An identity with a location is a prerequisite of any census. Without an address, the postal department cannot dispatch its letters and parcels. Railways cannot streamline their locomotives without station names. The matter does not end here. A census document or a gazetteer becomes useless if the spellings of the names it carries are different from those known to the user. For the smooth functioning of the system it is a dire necessity that the names of places be the same on the map, in the gazetteer and at the post office and the railway stations. The requirement is not for similar place names but for the same place names; the latter carry a strict element of consistency and meticulousness. This distinction means that for the place names to be same, they must be spelt in the same way. After all, to locate a place on a map, read about it in a gazetteer, conduct its operation of census, and reach it through a letter means that the name of the place must be spelt in the very same way along and across the entire chain of usage and venue. When the British set out to achieve their intention to commercially explore and exploit India they encountered a ‘jungle’ of place names. The British neither had the patience nor the intellectual will to walk carefully through the maze of the diversity that India presented. The agenda of the British was not about knowing local areas or local languages but of exerting control over its land and resources. To the British, the place names became a virtual ‘headache’, encountering a range of difficulties with them in India. To their horror, they found that place names came in a variety of languages, different pronunciations and spellings.

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Variety of languages, scripts and pronunciations Every region of India has a separate language. Moreover, most differ in their script, alphabet, vowels and consonants. Urdu follows the Persio-Arabic script; Hindi, Bengali, Odia, Punjabi, Gujarati and Marathi are long-separated descendants of the Devanagari script. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have their own scripts. There were other nuances. Though Hindi and Sanskrit use the Devanagari script, their pronunciation nevertheless differs. Take the case of Amravati (Hindi) vs Amārāvati (Sanskrit) and Dharmapur (Hindi) vs Dharāmpur (Sanskrit). Additionally, languages may differ in the letters they contain. For example, Odia has the old Sanskrit compound vowel ‘n’, which does not exist in Hindi. The multiple languages of India differ not only in regard to their written character, but they also exhibit a complex series of vowel and consonant changes and terminal variations, which can be understood only by those trained in the specific language. A Bengali uses ‘b’ and ‘v’ indifferently, as the Bengali mouth refuses to form ‘v’ and invariably pronounces it as ‘b’. The Assamese and the rest of East India soften ‘ch’ into ‘s’, and ‘s’ into ‘h’. Thus, they pronounce a principal frontier town of Assam as Saikhoa, while the Bengali pronounces it as Chaikhoa. The god Shiva becomes Siba in Bengal and Hiwa in Assam (Hunter, 1871). The Bengali changes ‘i’ into ‘y’ when it follows a consonant ‘and’ is followed by a vowel. A word that is written as Ulaberia in Urdu becomes Ulabariya in Bengali, and Sadia becomes Sadiya. While the Persian has an affluence of letters to represent the sound of ‘z’, the Nagari-descendant languages know nothing of this consonant, and have no letter to represent it. Hence, whenever Persianization changed a place name involving the use of letter ‘z’, the Nagari represented it by the sound of ‘j’. To appreciate this state of affairs one needs to look at three of the most common terminations of place names in India, namely: gram or village; pur or city; and nagar or town. The name village appears as gram in northern India (Anchuri-gram, Sewagram, Ashagram); Gaon in central and the northwest India (Usgaon, Kolegaon, Niljegaon, Gurgaon, Argaon and Waigaon) and gan (pronounced gang, the final letter being the chandrabindhu nasal) in Lower Bengal. The termination pur or city is written with a long ‘u’ in Urdu; with a short ‘u’ in Bengali; and with either a long or short ‘u’ in Sanskrit and some of its descendant languages. The third common affix, nagar or town, is spelt variably as nagar, nagore, nagger, nuggar and nuggore. Like the tangle of species in a jungle so also it is difficult to assign localities to these different forms and most of them exist intermingled throughout India. Adding to the grouse is the fact that place names are spelt in a variety of ways.

Multiple spellings for the same place name The Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases contains names in Anglo-India and on the Eastern Trade Routes from the sixteenth to

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the nineteenth centuries. This dictionary, compiled by Yule and Burnell (1903) draws upon exhaustive quotations from travel narratives and other literature in various languages. When this source was archived for place names of India, it confirmed the ‘multiple versions’ of spellings (see Figure 6.1). A random check of half a dozen travelogues on Gujarat reeled out as many as ten different spellings: Gozurat, Guchrat, Gujrat, Gurjjara, Guzatts, Guzerat, Gurjarastra, Gurjaratta and Gurjardesh, apart from Gujarat. Nicobar finds itself variously spelt Nacabar, Nakkavar, Necurveran, Nconvar, Nicoveran

FIGURE 6.1  Variations

in spelling of names prior to the British orthography of standardization.

Source: Compiled by the author.

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and Nicubar. One comes across Bengal as Bang, Bangala, Banghella, Bemgala, Bengala, Bungaleh and Vanga. There was hardly any place names of India that did not lug around at least half a dozen versions of spellings. There is Decan, Dekkan, and Deckan; Tanjaor, Tanjowar and Tanjore; Cachemire, Cashmeer, Cassimere, Kashmir and Kasmir; Pengab, Penjaub and Punjab; and hundreds more. Historically, the spellings of place names lacked consistency. A study of Mumbai showed the following versions and their year of usage: Momboyan (1525), Bombay (1538), Mombain (1552), Mombaym (1552), Monbaym (1554), Mombaim (1563), Mombaym (1644), Bombaye (1666), Mombaim (1666), Mombeye (1676), Bombaye (1666), Bombeye (1676) and Boon Bay (1690) (Suryawanshi and Pawar, 2016). In addition, the stock of people referred to the same place differently. The French settlement is Puduchcheri or New Town, Hindus call it Puthvai or Puthucceri, Muslims call it Pulcheri and Madras Glossary lists it under the word Pulchari (Yule and Burnell, 1903). Similar is the case of Kashmir. Hindus called it Kaschah mar, the Muslims Kashuf Mir and the people of Gilgit, Kashir, while earlier European travellers mention it as Cashmere. The problem of multiple spellings and references is the contribution of the recorders of place names. Since people, be they voyagers, missionaries, merchants, chroniclers, railway engineers or army personnel, came from different lands and had backgrounds of other languages, they heard and spoke and spelt the name of a place in any manner that struck their fancy, convenience or roughly represented the sound as received by the untrained ear. The concern was largely with conveying information rather than with the consistency or accuracy of spellings. Even when engineers or planners set out to survey the land, their prime focus was on matters such as relief or hydrology. A precise verification of place names was of incidental interest to them. As a result, the quality of the toponymic content differed greatly from one surveyor or map editor to another, as also from one region to another. De Havilland, the cartographer who prepared a map of Coimbatore in the eighteenth century, confesses: in writing the names of places, although I have attempted throughout to adopt the orthography of the Tameel which appear to me the language of aborigine of that country, I am sensible, as well from my very slender knowledge of that tongue, as from my being unable frequently to obtain the real names of places written in the languages itself that I have materially failed in this respect. (cited in Phillimore, 1945) The confusion regarding place names added serious blunders: A map of the Doab, prepared by the Surveyor-General from materials in his office, presented the road from Kanhpur to Akbarpur as double: being taken from two route surveys, the compilers had not discovered that

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the routes were the same, because all the names were spelled differently. The principal names were, on one route, – Kuttra, Chichehree, Bhysowr, Futtipur, Raneea, Oomrun, Akberpoor; and on the other, Gittera, Chichindy, Bheisawn, Futtehpur, Runneah, Oomeron, Akbarpoor, – the relative distances of the places in each list being the same. (Burgess, 1891) Adding to the confusion were the different methods of transliteration being followed in India at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Transliteration of place names Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script into another. It is primarily concerned with representing the characters, accurately and unambiguously. There could be many modes of achieving this goal. A method of transliteration followed in India was the one proposed by Sir William Jones (1746–1794), who published a system of transliterating Indian names based on the method of rendering vowel sounds. In Jones’ method, ‘e’ is pronounced as ‘i’ as in the word ravine; or the soft ‘u’ sound as in rude or bull and so forth. Using this system, Jones managed to transliterate numerous works into English, like the Manusmriti, Shakuntala and Gita Govinda ( Jones, 1798). A second system of transliteration making its rounds at this time was the one devised by the Scottish philologist John Borthwick Gilchrist. The latter made a study of several local languages in India and then propounded a system of transliteration that amplifies the English alphabet by a free use of double vowels: such as ‘oo’ for the first syllable, as in cruel; ‘ee’ for the second syllable, as in police; and invariably employs the vowel ‘u’ to represent ‘uu’, as in rural. The aim of Gilchrist’s system was to represent the sounds of the Indian vowels in a manner that reduces the chances of these being ‘misunderstood by uninitiated English readers’. A third exposition was H. H. Wilson’s system of transliteration, a work that was of value for its lists in the English and vernacular characters of native family names, extending over more than 60 pages. The fourth is a system of transliteration proposed by Thomas, where the application of diacritic marks to English type demonstrated, in the smallest possible space, a plan for accurately representing both the Sanskrit and Semitic consonants in the Roman character. The fifth is found in the rules for spelling names of places issued by the Trigonometrical Survey of India (Hunter, 1873). For over three quarters of a century, a set of Englishmen continued writing and printing Indian names in any of the above systems of transliterations. The confusion of place names in India, be it that of spellings, variety of names for one place, and the different systems of transliteration, meant that the various plans the British were keen to put in the pipeline, could not be executed. Without a system of orthography, the compilation of the gazetteers could not begin .The post-office guide spelt a place name in one way, railway companies

112  Englishization and Anglicization

gave it another, the telegraph department followed yet another system and the topographical and revenue surveys felt free to use different spellings. The timetables, sign boards, guides and the Bradshaw all carried different spellings. Barring the legislative department, which was consistent in this regard, uniformity was unknown, both to the Indian public and to Indian officials. The practical inconvenience caused by this lack of uniformity was found to be very great (Hunter, 1871). The introduction of paper and printing machines in the second half of the eighteenth century had far-reaching implications for the dissemination of information in general and affected the use of place names. It became imperative that place names be communicated clearly and to that end they were to be spelt in a uniform manner. Meanwhile the world was becoming global and demand for ‘standardization’ came equally from national and from international quarters.

Demand for global standardization The first International Congress of Geographers, at its forum held at Antwerp in Belgium in 1871, discussed the universal problem of spelling geographical names. A demand was raised that each country should prepare for its territory an official list of populated places in Roman letters, which was to be acknowledged by other countries. The matter was again raised at the fifth International Congress of Geographers, held at Bern in Switzerland in 1891. Here the German geographer Albrecht Penck launched the idea of a world map on a scale of 1:1 million. He even suggested the map projection, the details of symbols and the design layout for the purpose. He also made a case for a standardized writing of geographical names. A similar need was echoed in the United States of America, where after the Civil War of 1861–1865, the westward expansion of the new territories faced place-name inconsistencies. This confused surveyors, cartographers and scientists. To ‘standardize’ these anomalies, T. C. Mendenhall, Superintendent of the United States of America Coast and Geodetic Survey Office appointed a team of ten prominent geographers on January 6, 1890, ‘to suggest the organization of a board made up of representatives from the different government services interested, to which may be referred any disputed question of geographical orthography’. On September 4, 1890, President Benjamin Harrison signed an executive order establishing the Board of Geographic Names: ‘to this Board shall be referred all unsettled questions concerning geographic names. The decisions of the Board were to be accepted … as the standard authority for such matters’. It is important to mention that the late nineteenth century was also the time when ‘standardized’ time zones were created. Prior to this, each important town had its own local system of reckoning time. To coordinate activities at different places was not an easy task. In 1802, John Goldingham made Madras time applicable to all British territories in India. The railways in India later used this widely. Indian Standard Time, fixed according to the meridian passing east of

Englishization and Anglicization 

113

Allahabad at 82.5° E longitude, came into force on January 1, 1906. The attempt at standardization of place names was, thus, a part of a broader scheme of things. A proposal for the adoption of a uniform system of spelling of place names was sent by Sir William Wilson Hunter, who later edited the Imperial Gazetteers of India, to the Home Department of the British Government on November 6, 1869. He developed a system of writing proper names during the 1860s and it was accepted by the Government of India in 1872. The project to collect, compare and catalogue place names was humungous. This was accomplished through local postmasters, who were instructed to write each word not only in the vernacular but also in Persian or Hindi. The aim was to obtain the ‘correct’ spelling of the names of places throughout India. The next step was to edit the series of spellings that were offered. A form was circulated by the Post Master General, to be filled in by the postmasters, asking for information about the ordinary spelling of the names. This was followed by the name in the vernacular character of the district and in either the Persian or the Nagari script. Where the character differed from the Nagari or Persian scripts it was to be put in Hindi or Urdu. This was then followed by the acceptable spelling for the Gazetteers, which was also spelt out. The format was clearly laid out for postmasters across India to fill in the details as required (see Table 6.1). The work to transliterate place names of India was a mission and it began with elaborate instructions. When Hunter received Lytton’s acknowledgment of the first two volumes of the Imperial Gazetteers, the latter’s Private Secretary, G. A. Batten, had placed on record, in August 1879, that ‘I thoroughly sympathize with your spelling difficulties, for I have always been an apostle of scientific transliteration of Indian names’. It took less than four years for the proposal to be implemented. The purpose was clearly to serve the English speaker and reader. Independent India has not been able to put forward an ‘Indianized’ system of transliteration for 70 years!

Standardization the Anglicized way Orthography is the science of spellings. It sets rules that generally govern how speech sounds are represented in writing. The British standardized place names and arranged them in alphabetical order, in the English language; they followed a principle of uniform transliteration. The idea was to produce a name representation of places that would be easy to spell and pronounce, following the logic of British orthography. All the various types of consonants occurring in any regional language were reduced to a single form, conforming to the standard straightforward consonants present in English language. Names were separated into two classes. To the first belonged those names where the fixity of spelling had so hardened that any attempt to alter it would destroy the identity of the place. In the second group were the names whose fixity was not firmly established and a compromise could be made, by sacrificing something of scientific precision, ensuring that the name remained recognizable.

Column 2

Column 3

Column 4

Column 5

Column 6

अभाना औद ेग ांव अडि याल अगरया ‫اللیپورے‬ अलोन अमरकंट क आंब गांव आमला अंद ोर ी उन ह् ोन ी अर ी आष ट् आश ीर्ग ढ़ आटन ेर

Source: Hunter (1871), pp. 37–38.

Ubhana Adegaon Adial Aguria Allipore Alone Umurkuntuk Ambgaon Amlah Andoree Unhonee Uree Ashta Assergurh Atnair

Abhā nā Adegānv Adyā l Agaryā Al īpū r Alōn Amarkantak Āmbg ā nv Āmlā Andor ī Anhon ī Ar11 pt Ā shta Ā sī rgarh Ātner

Ăbhā nā Ādëg āon Ădiyā l Ăg ă riā Ă l īpū r Ă lōn Ă m ă rk ă nt ă k Ā mbg āon Ā mlā Ă ndōr ī Ă nhōn ī Ărī Ā sht ā Ā sī rg ă rh Ātnēr

 

       

       

 

Practical spelling to Column for Name of place as Name in the vernacular Name in either the Name accurately transliterated on the be adopted in corrections commonly spelt in characters of the Persian or the modified Jonesian System to be adopted the Gazetteer and remarks English characters district Nagari script for the Gazetteer without diacritical marks for consonants

Column 1

TABLE 6.1 Procedure and format followed by Hunter to ‘standardize’ place names of India

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115

As an example of the former, it was simply impossible to alter a single letter in the name Allahabad without destroying its historical identity. As a case of the latter, it was possible to change the name Kanpur into Cawnpore and yet maintain its easy recognition. In this way a number of names were ‘tuned up’ towards the pitch of British scientific accuracy. It needs to be emphasized that the effort at standardization of place names was not a ‘new invention’ by the British. During the rule of the Pallavas, Cholas, Pandyas and others in South India, the names of villages were changed but care was taken to indicate the old names alongside to avoid any confusion. Examples include Koovanputtuur, turned into Viirakeerajanalluur, and Raajaraajapuram changed to Paraantakapuram (Nachimutu, 1987). When the British Anglicized place names, they did not bother to provide the original names alongside, eliminating a point of reference for record. The ‘standardization’ of place names in India signified that things were to be done the British way. The introductory note to the first edition of The Imperial Gazetteers of India (1881) states that [m]ost Indian languages have different forms for a number of consonants, such as d, t, r. These were marked in scientific works by the use of dots or italics. Since the European distinguishes these with difficulty in ordinary pronunciation, it has been considered undesirable to embarrass the reader with them. (Hunter, 1909) This ensured that place names in printing and map making were represented with ease. The adoption of Hunter’s Anglicization system was almost instantaneous. The post-office guide, the railway timetables and signboards, and the Telegraph Department lost no time in following it. The Englishman, the leading newspaper in Bengal, Pioneer, the leading paper of the North-West Provinces, and the Indian Public Opinion, the leading paper in the Punjab, were quick to adopt the system. The printing of gazetteers and maps, and the conduct of a vast amount of government work, including legislation for the whole country, was carried out as per this system of orthography. It is with such an ‘Order’ that the British were able to consolidate a large political empire. Place names underwent a change in one sweep. Anglicization resulted in changes in form and pronunciation, shortening of vowels and shifting of the stress on accents. It resulted in the mutilation and amputation of place names. The examples can be picked out from across the country. Vanga in Sanskrit is the name of a tribe. It was used to indicate the territory inhabited by them. The same word Vanga, with the Prakrit adjunct ‘ala’, was transliterated by the Muslims as ‘Bangalah’. This was changed into Bengal by the British. Tippera, more popularly known as ‘Hill Tippera’, was the Anglicized version of Tipra. The Anglicized name Delhi for the capital of India is a corruption

116  Englishization and Anglicization

of the word Dihlī. The name Canara is the invention of the Portuguese, Dutch and English people, who visited the area for trade from the early sixteenth century onwards. The Bednore dynasty, who ruled over this tract at that time, was known to them as the Kannada dynasty or the dynasty speaking the Kannada language. The letter ‘d’ being always pronounced like ‘r’ by the Europeans, the district got the name as Canara. This name was retained by the British after their occupation of the district in 1799, and has remained ever since (Silva, 1963). Orissa is the English form of the Oriya word Odisa. The word has come from Ordra, referring to the people called the Odras and their territory. Until 1973, Lakshadweep, the island group, was known by the Anglicized name Laccadives, in a similar vein to the Maldives and Suvadives. Nicobar is an Anglicized form of the name Nakka-vāram, which appears in a Tanjore inscription of the eleventh century. The following are some additional examples of Anglicization trend of place names in India, with the original name in brackets: Calicut (Kozhikode), Rajahmundry (Rajamahendravaram), Patna (Patliputra), Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Cawnpur (Kanhapur or Krishnapura), Chitaldurg (Chitradurga), Seringapatam (Sri Rangapattanam), Mudhol (Muduvolal), Coorg (Kodagu), Lucknow (Lakhanpur), Ooty (Udakamandalam), Tranquebar (Taragambddi) and Pondicherry (Puduc­ cheira). To suit the British, Gutti is spelt as Gooty, Selam as Salem, Kadapa as Cuddapah and Velur as Vellore. Kanpur became Cawnpore and Munger became Monghyr. Waris-ali-ganj in Bihar’s Gaya district began to be called Worsleyganj. The Hunterian system renders the letters ‘k’ and ‘q’ both as ‘k’. Similarly, ड and ड़ are both represented by ‘d’. Practically no systematic transliteration is adopted; spellings are changed, but not always for the better – for example, Cooum is put in place of the older ‘Coom’, but is not much nearer the correct form of Kuvăm; while Jaypur (Jaypore, Jaypoor) is made into Jaipur; Gudiyáttam is changed to Gudiátham; Bhartpur is put in the place of Bhurtpore, instead of Bharatpur; and Hampi for Hampe. Ahobalam for Ahobilam. Fateh is used for Fath or Fathe, drúg for durg; and peta and petta, páli, palle and pallí are used almost indiscriminately (Burgess, 1891). In the prologue to his Atlas on the Mughal Empire, Habib (1982) highlights that ‘with the European sources it is not so much a question of misreading but of faulty representation of Indian names by strangers’. Clearly the process of Anglicization added chaos and confusion to place names in India. Such a state of matters in the spellings of place names on maps is evident from a selection from the Great Trigonometrically Survey maps of the northern districts of the Madras Presidency (see Table 6.2). Hundreds of such examples, and many worse, might easily be culled from any of the sheets; and a comparison of the names reveals the utter absence of any system of transcription; syllables are transposed or omitted, sounds inserted or altered (Burgess, 1891). For the sake of administrative convenience and in much haste, many ancient and significant names were altered into a meaningless appellation. The reasons were many, one, of course, being the rush to resolve the simplification of names and move ahead with more serious commercially

Akuvídŭ Áchanta Adamalle Ákiripalle Chágalla Bhímaduvolů Babbellapádu Búdavádŭ Chebrolŭ Shríkákola Shenganúr Kánukollŭ Vúlikunta Devarapalle Dontali Dhavaleshvaraiu Garugubilli

Akeed Asuntah Audamellee Augerpully Bagallu Bemedavole Bobellahpaudoo Boodand Chebal Chicacole Chunganoor Concole Cullakoont Deorpali Doomtally Dowlaishwerani Gargupilly

Source: Burgess, 1891.

Correct transcription

On the map Ingeeram Ippurroo Lyeloor Kakeerana Kaudaloor Kerlure Koodavillee Masarum Mjingoor Moogetalah Muliauy Mamedada Neppa Oopako Pallashim Paltambra Payakairoo

On the map Injiram Vipparru Ayilúr ň Kokireni Kájalúr ŭ Kírayúr Kumadavilli Machavaram Minjúr Mukhtiyála Mallaviili Mamidivâda Leppa Upmáka Pattesham Talatampara Pekeru

Correct transcription Pidiinandasa Plaspooram Eallee Sapochola Streevygoondum Thyadeemulla Tricknaungoody Taidoor Tundakulpoodee Uttellee Uzzamoor Vissiavethee Weeyoor Wodagaricem Yahdavole

On the map

TABLE 6.2 Incorrect spellings of place names on the maps of the northern districts of the Madras Presidency

Píramambúsha Páláshapuram Ryáli Sábakota Shrívaikuntham Tadimalla Tiru-Karangudi Tállúr Tadakalapúdi Attili Ajjamúr ŭ Vijayapati Vuyúr ŭ Vaddig ŭdem Yádavolŭ

Correct transcription

118  Englishization and Anglicization

profitable ventures. Equally responsible was the fact that knowledge of the local language was evidently not regarded as a necessary qualification for introducing a change of place names. Hunter drew up lists to show the true spelling of all postal towns and villages in India but these were lists prepared by village postmasters and pupils of government English schools, many of whom did not belong to the local area; in this case, only if old headmen, long-settled residents or the learned priests or Brahmans, who belong to the district and know which are the true forms, had been consulted could one have saved many of the ‘true and original’ names of places. The setting up of the first English-medium universities in India in 1857 at Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, and at Delhi in 1922 meant that the Anglicised version of place names was adopted both for teaching and research. Cementing the process is the fact that for more than a century now, English has continued to serve as one of the two official languages of India, the other being Hindi. The landscape of place names during colonialism was about transformation, and colonial knowledge sought to impose order, with the sole motive of enhancing the flow of economic activity. To achieve this purpose, place names were misspelt and mispronounced, and so, into the bargain, they lost their original meaning and connection with the ‘place’. This being the state of affairs when India gained independence, there was a rapid demand that place names everywhere should be correctly represented. It is the search for the ‘original place name’, the name that resonates with the land and people of India, that became the harbinger of change when India gained freedom in 1947.

7 NATIONALISM AND PLACE NAMES

India poised on the threshold of independence was, indeed, a critical moment in the history of the subcontinent; at this juncture the leaders of both countries also discussed what the names would be for the two carved-out constituents of the subcontinent. There were suggestions that these would be named Hindustan and Pakistan. The name Pakistan, meaning the ‘land of the pure and clean’, is credited to have originated in the poetic imagination of Muhammad Iqbal. Meanwhile, the Constituent Assembly pondered names like Bharat, Hindustan, Hind and Bharat Bhumi or Bharatvarsh, among others. But India remains with the name India. On the issue of names, the following is what Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy and first Governor General of independent India shared: One of the things that we grossly miscalculated was that he [ Jinnah] was convinced that I would split India into Hindustan and Pakistan. I didn’t know that the Indians had intended to ask me for the continuation of India as India, inheriting all the previous things, and that Pakistan should be thrown out. It was a must. Jinnah was absolutely furious when he found out they were going to call themselves India. It was a very good idea. The real body blow to Pakistan was Menon’s idea of India inheriting everything. They were the successor state and Pakistan was to leave them and there was no way Jinnah could get around that. (Collins and Lapierre, 1982) A name carries identity, legacy and pride. On the eve of independence, India was in the grip of a three-tier emotional ‘mood’. On the first layer was jubilance for acquiring a nation of its own; on the second was the sense of freedom from the rule of the British and on top was the pain of the partition of the subcontinent and the creation of Pakistan.

120  Nationalism and place names

This sense of ‘attachment to one’s own country’ and ‘separation from the British and Pakistan’ found expression in many directions. One of these was to change place names in India. Partition tattooed not just the land, area and territory but tore apart families and friends and separated people from their livelihoods. The numbers displaced were more than 15 million and the consequent bitterness caused large-scale riots and looting, which spread across both India and Pakistan. Moreover, it sowed the seeds of animosity between Hindus and Muslims. Among other things, Hindi came to be seen as Hindu and, therefore, it belonged to India, while Urdu was seen as Muslim and, therefore, represented Pakistan. This means that as and when sentiments of intolerance are fuelled between the two communities the contention over place names is also raised. In addition, freedom from the British meant disenchantment with the English place names. The feeling of separation from both England and Pakistan, alongside that of nationalism, influenced the process of change and the reconsideration of place names. The search was for names that were indigenous, rooted in tradition and belonged to ‘one’s own place’. In this connection, a circular sent by the Central Government of India to the State Government of Bihar and reported in the October 12, 1953 issue of the Times of India is of special interest. On one hand, the circular directed that there should be a uniform procedure for the matter of changing the names of places and … names of villages having historical connection should not be changed as far as possible; further a change should not be made merely on grounds of local patriotism or for linguistic reasons … while recommending any change the State Government should furnish detailed reasons for proposing a change in the name and for selecting a new name. On the other hand, it added that ‘it was eminently desirable that where an ancient place had fallen into decay and with it the old name has also fallen into disuse, the ancient name should be restored’. The phrase ‘ancient name should be restored’ is a critical element of the directive. This practice of renaming or searching for ancient names was seen as celebration of heritage and adherence to nationalism. The National Herald (August 6, 1947) called this the ‘Indianization and nationalization’ of place names (Kudaisya, 2006). Any ‘toponomic cleansing’ is invariably motivated by political considerations. Before an attempt is made to comprehend the main lineaments of change of place names along these lines, it would be worthwhile sketching a map of the type of place names India inherited in 1947.

Place names in 1947: What names did India inherit from its past? Recapitulating the journey of place names in India reveals that the first set of names in Sanskrit were rooted in the physical environment and religion.

Nationalism and place names  121

The land lent the place names. Sindhu in Sanskrit means a river, similarly dweep is an island, and Himalaya derived from the Sanskrit word hima, referring to frost or snow, while alaya is an abode. A conspicuous feature of this evolving map was the impact of Sanskritization on place names in every part of India. Persianization introduced places names that reiterated Muslim social milieu and the Islamic religion. The stamp of Persianization of place names persists mainly in North India, East India and some erstwhile Muslim-ruled areas in the Deccan. The impact of over 150 years of Englishization and Anglicization during British rule is most visible in the names of hill stations, plantations, railway stations, army cantonments and islands. For the British, names were about control, assertion of authority and homogenization. Since they were keen to ‘standardize’, therefore the structure of place names had to be changed. By introducing British orthography, the British Anglicized place names in India, which led to the mutilation of place names across the country. Inheriting a multi-layered place-name map in 1947, India rushed to put its ‘house of place names in order’ as soon as it could recover from the ravages of partition. The Deccan Herald, (Bangalore, March 26, 1958,) reported that 110 places changed names in the period from 1953 to 1957. The state-wise figures were: United Provinces – 29, Punjab – 16, Madras – 15, Madhya Pradesh – 11, Andhra Pradesh – 12, Rajasthan – 9, Mysore – 9, West Bengal – 4, Assam – 2, and one each in Bombay, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh (Silva, 1963). This was just the beginning. In the name of nationalism, the change of place names continues till date. To gain an insight into the changes post-independence, district names were picked as a case for study. There were three considerations underlying this exercise. First, the district is the basic unit of administration in the country, and there are 640 districts in India (Census of India, 2011). Second, the approval of formation of new districts or changes in the names of existing districts is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and so it carries the legal stamp of the Government of India. Finally, a chronological list of district names, decade by decade for the years 1872 to 2011, can be collated from the Administrative Atlas published by the Census of India. This renders an authenticity to a systematic study of any change. Moreover, through the names of districts one can glean the pan-India process of changes in names.

Changes in names of districts: 1941–2011 For the present analysis, the list of names of districts was drawn up for the years from 1941 (the year when the last pre-independence census was conducted) to 2011 (when the latest post-independence census was carried out). This period was divided into two sections: a shorter one from 1941 to 1961 and the longer one from 1961 to 2011. The period 1941 to 1961 was selected to figure out the change in the names of districts just immediately after independence. A finer slice of 1941

122  Nationalism and place names

to 1951 could have been more meaningful but this was not feasible, as the census could not be conducted in the parts of the country that were politically disturbed after partition in 1947. Moreover, a specific advantage of selecting 1961 was that by this time India had consolidated its British Provinces, princely states and territories under the control of the French and Portuguese within the fold of one nation. The half a century from 1961 to 2011 was bundled together to identify the type of change in place names over a longer period. During these decades the number of districts increased from 340 in 1961 to 640 in 2011. This gives an average increase of 60 districts per decade. (Appendix 7.A provides the details of such changes, decade by decade, for the purpose of reference.) Evidently ‘new names’ got added to the list of districts every ten years. One method to this analysis would have been to freeze the 340 districts of 1961 and discern the change in their names over the decades. The other was to carry all the new names added as and when they came, and note the changes. The second approach was followed simply because it expanded the scope of the study of name change. To ‘freeze’ the number was to bypass a part of reality. There were other considerations that had to be decided before proceeding with the analysis. In 1941, India comprised 202 princely states, 180 British districts, 42 princely districts, 5 French territories and 3 Portuguese territories. For the purpose of the present analysis, each of the aforementioned territories were treated like ‘one district’ and so ‘one name’. The total number thus arrived at was 432. By 1961, this number had come down to 272, signifying a reduction of number of districts by 160. The decline in the number of districts during this period was a result of internal reorganization of the administrative map of India. Alongside, 66 new names emerged in the inventory of district names (see Appendix 7.B). These were the ones associated with either the bifurcation or the merger of existing districts. In this stock of addition or deletion what is significant to the present study is the nature of change in the names of districts.

Types of changes in names of districts The changes in place names were of three types: the first pertained to changes in the spellings of the names, affecting nearly 50 percent of the cases; the second involved a complete change of name, which formed another 26 percent of the cases; and the third type, the remaining 24 percent of cases, was where the change of name was made by adding or removing a suffix or prefix to the existing name (see Appendix 7.C). A dominant form of change was in the spellings of district names. The effort was to conform to the sound of the name the way it is spoken by the local people and also to erase the errors of Anglicization as far as possible. Such a change could be discerned in the spellings of 64 district names. To this group, belong the likes of Simla to Shimla, Monghyr to Munger, Jullundur to Jalandhar, Poona to Pune, Calcutta to Kolkata, Broach to Bharuch, Dharwar to Dharwad, among several others (see Figure 7.1).

Nationalism and place names  123

Next were districts that experienced a complete change in their names. During the period from 1941 to 1961, under the umbrella of staunch nationalism, a country-wide effort was made to change the names of the districts to their original ones. Such a reversal is observed in the case of place names like Cochin to Trichur, Benares to Varanasi, Gird to Gwalior, Tanjore to Thanjavur, among others. This particular change in spellings was meant to dispel the cloud

FIGURE 7.1 India: Districts

Source: Compiled by author.

with complete change of name, 1961–2011.

124  Nationalism and place names

of Anglicization and sway in the direction of the indigenous. This is seen in the change from Cawnpore to Kanpur, Kistna to Krishna, Saugoar to Sagar, Madura to Madurai and Amraoti to Amravati, among others. The process of district name change continued unabated during the decades from 1961 to 2011. The rise in the number of districts from 340 in 1961 to 640 in 2011 was accompanied by a high frequency of change in district names. The concentration of this kind of change was marked in north-east India and South India, where a large number of new districts were created. In the case of some districts, the name was changed not once, or twice but three times in a row (see Appendix 7.D). The district name of Manipur was changed to Manipur Central during 1961–1971; it was called Imphal during 1981–1991 and then it became Imphal West during 1991–2001. Some district names were changed twice. North Arcot in Tamil Nadu was changed to North Arcot Ambedkar during 1981–1991 and then settled for the name Vellore during 1991–2001. A suffix, which was dropped into the names of several cases, was the word frontier. Earlier this had been tagged with many of the divisions of Arunachal Pradesh, such as Siang Frontier Division, Lohit Frontier Division and the Tirap Frontier Division. During colonial times, these ‘far-off lands’ on the borders of India were little explored and hence were called frontiers. By 1971, such a descriptor was no longer tenable and, therefore, was dropped from the name. Another noticeable change was the replacement of common English words by Sanskrit ones. North Kanara turned into Uttar Kannad and South Kanara to Dakshin Kannad. Attempts at erasing the impact of Persianization also cannot be ignored when it came to changing the name of the districts. Khandesh lies on the northwestern corner of the Deccan Plateau. Historically, the name of this region was linked to the title ‘Khan’, bestowed upon by the Faruqi kings of Gujarat. The name Khandesh was changed to Dhule district in 1961. The name of the district Shahabad was replaced with Bhojpur in 1972 to honour an ancient king of the area. This was done at the time when the district was bifurcated into two units, namely Bhojpur and Rohtas. Another case is the name of the district of Nawanshahr in Punjab. This was changed to Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar by the then Chief Minister of Punjab when addressing a state-level rally at Khatkar Kalan, the native village of Bhagat Singh (Government of Punjab, 2008). An emerging trend was to adopt the names of political leaders as district names. Kadapa, spelt Cuddapah by the British, is located in the heart of the Rayalseema. It was renamed as Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy after the name of a two-time Chief Ministerof Andhra Pradesh, popularly known as YSR. Andhra Pradesh named two new districts as Prakasam and Rangareddi. When formed in 1970, Prakasam district was named as Ongolet but subsequently its name was changed to the present one, to honour the name of Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, an Andhra leader born in this district. Similarly, Rangareddi district is named after Konda Venkata Ranga Reddy, who was a freedom fighter and deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh from 1959 to 1962.

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The persistence of political names of districts is apparently ephemeral. Kumaraswami Kamaraj of Tamil Nadu was a top-ranking leader of the Indian National Congress. He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1976. The domestic terminal of Chennai Airportwas named ‘Kamaraj Terminal’ in his honour. The same was the case of Madurai Kamaraj University. A district named after him was, however, renamed Virudhunagar in 2001. A new district was carved out of the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu and was named Chitambaranar to honour the freedom fighter, V. O. Chidambaram. Its name was changed to Thoothukudi district in 2001. Between 2001 and 2011, to the name of Nellore district was added the prefix Sri Potti Srimamulu, in memory of the freedom fighter Potti Sri Ramulu, who died fasting in 1952 in an attempt to achieve the formation of a separate Teluguspeaking state. Andhra Pradesh has, of course, been a forerunner in changing the district names on these lines.The change in names is not confined to districts and is evident for places of all kinds across the country. The story of the name changes of villages and towns is no different.

Change of names of settlements, localities and roads Urban areas, across India, are seeking a revival to their Sanskritized counterparts. Pandavapura is a town in Mandya district of Karnataka. The ancient name of Pandavapura was converted to Hirode, and subsequently to French Rocks. In 1949, under the pulse of nationalism, it got back its ancient name Pandavapura. The literal meaning of Pandavapura is ‘town of Pandavas’. Mythology states that the Pandavas, during the period of their exile, stayed here for some time, and Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, liked the hillock here so much that it became one of her favourite haunts (Dhanaraj, 2014). In a similar vein, the Haryana government decided to change the name of Gurgaon district to Gurugram in 2016. An official gazette notification informs that Gurgaon got its name after Guru Dhronacharya, a master archer and tutor of the Pandavas in the epic Mahabharata. He received this village as ‘gurudakshina’ or farewell gift from his pupils, the Pandavas. Hence, the name of the place was changed to Gurugram (Singh, 2016). Allahabad stands on the site of ancient Prayag. The Mughal emperor Akbar named it al-Ilahābād (‘City of God’) in 1583. It became the capital of a subah (province) during the Mughal Empire. The site’s religious importance persists because it is a confluence (or a sangam) of the sacred river Yamuna and Ganga (and the mythical river Saraswati). It is here that every twelfth year a large Hindu festival, Kumbh Mela, is celebrated by millions of Hindu devotees. A festivity heralds this landmark event when the sixth year is crossed. The arrival of the latter is known as the ‘Ardh’ or the half Kumbh. As a precursor to the joyous ‘Ardh’ Kumbh Mela in 2018, Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, announced that Allahabad will be renamed Prayagraj.

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Prayag (Sanskrit ‘pra’ – special, ‘yag’ – sacrifice) is thus a place of special yajna (a Vedic form of worship with offerings to the sacred fire). It is believed to be the place where Brahma (the first God in the Hindu triumvirate or trimurti) offered his sacrifice after creating the world.

Replacing English/Persian place names The trend of replacing English place names is evident across many a city and town of India. One form of change was to replace English names with religious names. Waltair was the British name of Vishakhapatnam, which was also known as Vizagapatam, shortened as ‘Vizag’. The area north of the city towards the sea was named Waltair after the name of the British General posted here. The Government of Andhra Pradesh replaced this English name first by Vizagapatnam, shortly after independence, and later by Vishakhapatnam in 1987, in obeisance to the temple of Lord Visakeswara located nearby. Trivandrum is the Anglicized name for Thiruvananthapuram, a Malayalam word thiru-anantha-puram meaning ‘City of Lord Ananta’, referring to the deity Sri Padmanabhaswamy, whose temple is located in the city. The city was officially referred to as Trivandrum until 1991, when the government decided to reinstate the city’s original name, Thiruvananthapuram. Indore, named after the Indreshwar Temple, where Lord Indra is the presiding deity, underwent a change from Indhur to Indore to suit the British orthography. Though it is still known as Indore, a proposal for renaming it Indur was tabled in the general council meeting of the city’s municipal corporation in November, 2015 (Sharma, 2017). Mangalore in Karnataka recently got its Kannada name, Mangaluru. The city is named after the presiding deity at Mangaladevi temple. Bombay, the financial capital of India, found its new name, Mumbai, in 1996. The name is a combination of the words Mumba (Maha Amba) or Goddess Mumbadevi and Aayi or ‘mother’ in Marathi. The reclaiming of indigenous place names is thus underway. The name Calicut in Kerala was changed to Kozhikode. The official website of the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation spares a paragraph on the toponymy of its jurisdiction: ‘Calicut’ is the Anglicized form of ‘Kalikut’, which in its turn is the Arabic imposition of the original Malayalam name Kozhikode. According to historian K. V. Krishnan Iyer, Kozhikode stands for koyil (palace), kodu (fortified). In 1971, Tamil Nadu’s Trichy, short for Trichinapoly, reverted to Tiruchirapalli. It is widely believed that the name is derived from the three-headed demon Trishira in the epic Ramayana. In Gujarat, Baroda went back to identifying itself as Vadodara in 1974. Vadodara gets its name from Vatpatrak, meaning the leaf of the banyan tree or Vatodar signifying the heart of the banyan tree. Karnataka’s city of Belgaum is now officially called Belagavi. The name finds its root in the Sanskrit word Velugramaor or ‘bamboo village’. In Maharashtra, the city name spelt Poona was changed to Pune in 1977. This is in light of the literal translation of the word punyagiri, which means the ‘city of virtue’. The oldest reference

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to the city’s name occurs on a copper plate dating back to 937 ce during the rule of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty, where it was called Punya Vishaya (Sengupta, 2014). There is another version where the original name is traced to Pinyapur, which indicates the holy meeting of the two rivers Mula and Mutha (Holkar, 1993). The fact is that the British wrote and pronounced it as Poona and now it is spelt Pune. The urge to change English place names as symbols of power and political ideology is evident in the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on 30th December 2018. The chosen date to effectuate name change was carefully planned to coincide with the celebration of the freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s hoisting of the tricolor in Andaman Islands 75 years ago (on 30th December 1943). Commemorating the event, the Prime Minister released a postal stamp of the event and the currency coins of Rs. 75 and declared the change of name for three important islands; Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock Island were changed to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep, Shaheed Dweep and Swaraj Dweep, respectively. In his speech delivered at Port Blair, the Prime Minister said this name change was being done “in order to immortalize the memory of Netaji along with other freedom fighters in every corner of Andaman, so that the entire country is inspired” (The Economic Times, 2018). Incidententally, Netaji himself had proposed to change the name of the group of islands. Prime Minister Modi changed the name of the three islands and not that of the group. Bose was satisfied with the decision of the Japanese Government and next day at a press conference in Tokyo Bose declared that, “for Indians the return of the Andamans represents the first territory to be liberated from the British yoke” (Sareen, 2001). By the acquisition of this territory, he added, “the Provisional Government has now become national entity in fact as well as in name” (Sareen, 2001). We have renamed Andamans as “Shaheed” in memory of the martyrs and Nicobar as “Swaraj.”

Change to regional names The change in place names is not just from the angle of de-Anglicization. There are claims being made by different regional languages on the origin of a place name. Madras was renamed Chennai in 1996. Madras was a colonial version of Madraspattinam, a fishing town on the site of present-day Chennai. A book, with the title Origin and Foundation of Madras, by More (2014) informs us that the name Madraspatnam was derived from Medu Rasa Patnam. When Nayak Venkatappa, a local chieftain, issued a land grant in favour of the English in 1639, its name was mentioned as Madraspatnam. But during the 1640s, two new names for Madraspatnam, specifically Chinapatnam and Chennapatnam, had taken shape for this place. Chinapatnam would have been the first name to emerge in the Telugu-Tamil quarters of the city to signify the Black Town of

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Madraspatnam. Chenna in Telugu means fair and is not to be confused with the Tamil word Chinna, which means small. The word Chennai seems to have been revived to designate the Madras town. Its origin is Telugu and there is nothing Tamil about the word (Saju, 2014). The trend of name changes reaches to roads, streets and residential neighbourhoods. New Delhi was planned to incorporate grand architecture to enforce British dominance. The architect of this plan was Edward Lutyens. He laid out a symmetrical geometric plan with wide pathways and elegant avenues. The city was structured around two triumphal avenues, Kingsway and Queensway. After independence the names of these avenues were changed to the Rajpath and the Janpath. Roads earlier named after the British viceroys were renamed in honour of national leaders. Among many other changes, Kitchener Road was renamed Sardar Patel Marg, Wellesley Road became Zakir Hussain Marg and, to commemorate the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, the Albuquerque Road was changed to Tees January Marg. As recently as 2015, Aurangzeb Road was renamed Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Road, to honour the much-admired President of India. Even Connaught Place, which was constructed in 1933 and named to honour the Duke of Connaught’s visit to Delhi, has been renamed as the Rajiv Gandhi Chowk, after the former Prime Minister of India. The 110-year-old Victoria Terminus experienced a name change as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in 1996. Statistics for 1999 reveal that a startling 2,500 roads and chowks have been given new names in Mumbai in the last three years alone and fresh proposals continue to pour in (Singh, 1999). While still a Member of Parliament for Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath replaced the names of many places of the city – Urdu Bazar as Hindi Bazar, Ali Nagar as Arya Nagar, Miya Bazar as Maya Bazar, Islampur as Ishwarpur, Lahaladpur as Alahaladpur and Humayun Nagar as Hanuman Nagar. Most of these places, however, are still registered with their old names.The intend to wield power sees no end: there is a proposal to change the name of the ‘Taj Mahal’, one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, to the ‘Ram Mahal’ (Pandey, 2018).

Change of place names for political leaders Every city has its political icons: Shivaji in Mumbai, Netaji in Kolkata, Sardar Patel in Ahmadabad. There are thus the likes of Ambedkar Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Indira Gandhi Nagar and even Tau Nagar. Here is the history and location of the last named. Devi Lal was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of India when Janta Dal came to power in 1989. After assuming office, he delivered a brief speech in which he referred to himself as Tau, a word that refers to a fatherly figure in Haryana. Tau Nagar stands today on the Sonipat Road, 11 kilometres from the Rohtak City (Kumar and Prasad, 1992). This is not the end. The proposals for change of place

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names run into thousands across the country. The reasons for seeking change could range from feelings of pride for the new name to shame for the old. In Fatehbad district of Haryana is a village called Gand, which in Hindi means filth. Chorachi, which means a den of thieves in Marathi, is a village in Satara district of Maharashtra. Beef is a village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. All are keen to change their names (Sharma, 2016). In June 2018, the name of the iconic and historic Mughalsarai railway station was changed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue who was mysteriously found dead in this station in 1968.There is also a proposal to rename the town Mughalsarai as Deen Dayal Nagar. As if setting out a clear political agenda was not enough to create a disconnect of name with place, an equally, if not more, disturbing trend is the commodification of place names.

Selling place names to multinational companies Commercialization of place names is an emerging trend. Multinational companies are finding it attractive and lucrative to ‘buy out place names’ as a means for advertising and promoting their business. Their ingress is leading to what is called ‘place branding’. The names of some of the metro rail stations in Delhi were auctioned to corporate sponsors to generate revenue for the metro authority. On the airport line, the Shivaji Stadium station is called the ONGC Shivaji Stadium Metro station after the Oil and Natural Gas Commission of India. Along similar lines, the metro station called ITO (an acronym for the Income Tax Office located in close vicinity) has been renamed J. K.Tyre, this being one of the leading tyre manufacturers in India. Even the metro station of the University of Delhi called the Vishwavidyalaya (Vishwavidhyalaya is made up of two words – ‘vishwa’ meaning world and ‘vidyalaya’ meaning abode of knowledge) metro station has not been spared. It has been renamed Honda 2 Wheelers, after the manufacturers of the leading scooters and motorcycles in the country. The Rapid Metro in Gurugram is also following the same practice. It has given out stations to those companies that put in the highest bids and their names are incorporated into the station name. These include Vodafone Belvedere Towers station, Indus Ind Bank Cybercity station and Micromax Moulsari Avenue station (named after the Indian handset manufacturing company Micromax Informatics). At stations that are part of the Delhi Metro, any licensed company has the right to advertise its products inside the station and can change the colour scheme to reflect its branding (Banerjee, 2015). It seems that toponymic commodification and place name branding are merging. Such changes indicate that names are now being sold and in the process their connection with place is being lost. The rapid erosion of the connection between name and place in India leads one to ask whether or not India has a policy on naming of places. Who is in-charge of naming places in the country? Who decides place names?

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Policy for naming and renaming places in India Any demand for a change of name of place raises the question: Who takes the decision on the names of new towns, villages, streets, parks and a host of other sites? Which authority is empowered to have the final say on matters relating to place names? What considerations are involved in proposing a change in the place name? What is the procedure for bringing about a change of place name? These are valid questions, because a place name exists in relation to a wider geographical context and any alteration of a long-established place name comes with its own set of burdens. Such a change impacts residents, businesses and organizations, who use the current name as a part of their address. Moreover, because there is a time-lag before a change is communicated and implemented across signboards, maps, books and pages of the web, means that the change can create confusion for persons using outdated maps or publications that carry the previous name. The change of name comes with a price tag too. Manufacturing and installing a single signboard for a road in the city of Delhi is estimated to cost up to INR 30,000 and here we are talking about hundreds of thousands of such signboards. The Mughalsarai railway station is the fourth busiest station in India, with about 125 passenger trains passing through the junction every day. Changing the station’s name will eventuate changing the timetable, the signboards and other infrastructure. These will cost a lot of money (Biswas, 2017). It is for reasons of cost and because of the administrative burden, as well as recognizing the heady pace of requests for change of name across India, that the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a circular on September 27, 1975 stating that: [t]he question of renaming of streets and roads, etc., has been under the consideration of the ministry for some time. The changes in the names of streets and roads, etc., not only create confusion for the post offices and the public but also deprive the people of the sense of history. The matter has been examined in this ministry. It has been decided that the names of existing streets, roads should not be changed. Only new roads and old street roads without names may be named after venerable personalities, local, national, or international to honour them. (Ministry of Home Affairs, 1975) Prior to this it was the municipal bodies who made the first attempts to lay down rules for place names. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi Act 1957, under Section 42(a), states that naming and numbering of streets and premises is an obligatory function of the Corporation. Section 327(a) of the Act states that: ‘The Commissioner may, with sanction of the Corporation, determine the name or number by which any street or public place vested in the Corporation shall be known’ (Municipal Corporation of Delhi Act, 1957). A similar set of rules were framed when the New Delhi Municipal Corporation was created in 1994 (Government of India, 1994).

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A personal visit to the office of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi gave insight into the procedure adopted for change of street names. Here is a brief description. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi is territorially organized into 104 wards, each headed by a councillor who is a locally elected representative. These wards are grouped into three zones, under the authority of a mayor. At the apex of the zone is a commissioner. The naming and renaming committee works under the mayor. This committee is consistent with the Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines of 1975, and has no powers to change the existing names of roads/streets. It can only name those roads/streets or old roads/streets that are without any name. Within these guidelines, the scale of reference for the roads/streets is a width of at least 60 feet. The procedure for adopting a name is laid out is as follows: A Residential Welfare Association, or for that matter even an individual, can propose a name for a road/street to the local councillor. There is no specific proforma prescribed for the purpose. A perusal of some of the submissions at the office of the municipal corporation showed that applicants had specified the street to be named, suggested a name, which often was one that commemorated the memory of a deceased relative or a dignitary, and, in support of the name, appended a list of the honours or decorations acquired by the person in their lifetime. A hand-drawn map accompanies the application, marking out the road/street to be named. The corporation places the proposal before the commissioner for verification. After the receipt of the commissioner’s report, it returns to the naming and renaming committee chaired by the mayor. If the name is found to be suitable, the request is sent to the engineering department for implementation. The department assigns a junior engineer of the ward to confirm that the proposed name does not already exist; this is an important check for, according to the rules, a municipal ward cannot have two similar place names.There can be, for example, dozens of Ambedkar Chowks in a city, but a single ward can have only one place with this name. After the due verification by the engineering department, the mayor then issues a gazette notification to this effect to all concerned offices.The decision is circulated through newspapers to inform the general public.While the procedure appears simple, it can nevertheless take months for a name to be made official. The naming and renaming committee is said to be receiving hundreds of such requests and there are often heated debates on the names of personalities recommended for place names. After all, it is not just a name that one is supporting or pushing for, but an assertion of power through toponomic signage. This is not new to India. The British framed rules and introduced an orthography which Anglicized place names to suit their specific colonial needs, but free India had to reframe all the guidelines in the light of the newly emerged aspirations of the people. Besides the two official languages, Hindi and English, India has accorded special status to 22 regional languages, as scheduled in its Constitution. To add to this diversity, there are nine writing systems in active use. Therefore, to create one national

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transliteration system is a daunting task. In this context, in 1953, central government laid down a policy with respect to change of place names (Survey of India, 2009). The policy affirms that state governments have to keep the following in mind when framing proposals for changes in place names: i. Unless there is very special reason, it is not desirable to change a name that people have got used to. ii. Names of villages or places having historical connections should not be changed, as far as is possible. iii. The change should not be made merely on grounds of local patriotism or for linguistic reasons. iv. Villages and towns should not be renamed after national leaders merely to show respect to them or to satisfy local sentiment. v. Any change of a place name is to be notified by the state government in a gazette and is to be brought into use by all the government departments and the public. The 1953 policy of the Government of India laid out further that: i. The authority to determine the spelling of any name in the script used will be invested in the Ministry of Home Affairs of the central government. ii. All ministries of the central government and subordinate offices will observe the spelling approved by the central government. iii. The Survey of India will be the only authority for the transliteration of names from one script to another according to the system approved by the central government. iv. In the event of disagreement between the Survey of India and state government, the decision of the Government of India will be final. v. Where a state government uses a script that differs from the one used by the central government, or where a local script of the state differs from the script used by the central government, the state government will be the authority for deciding the spelling of geographical names of places or features in the state in local script. vi. The Survey of India will be responsible for transliterating these names into Devanagari or Roman script in accordance with the approved system of transliteration and in consultation, where necessary, with the state government and other appropriate authorities. vii. The state government will have full authority, where they adopt Hindi in the Devanagari script as the official language or even where Hindi is only a local language of the state government, to give names to places and natural features within their areas hitherto unnamed. Such a procedure will apply also to changes in the spelling of names. Mention may also be made of the policy to transliterate place names first into Hindi (in Devanagari script), and then from Hindi to Roman or any other Indian script. While doing so, it is important that the local pronunciation, particularly when it

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cannot be properly rendered into Hindi, is brought out as best as possible. An effort along these lines was made when Hindi editions of the maps were published. The real difficulty lies in the preparation of maps in different regional languages. Take, for example, a map of India in Gujarati to be brought out in Odia. Here it will become important that before any transliteration of place names into Hindi, as per policy, these names are also standardized within the particular regional language. This involves taking into account the many nuances of pronunciation and equivalent graphemes and phonemes and also differing conventions of writing. An attempt in the direction of standardization was made in 1961. An advisory board was set up for the National Atlas and Geographical Names with the Deputy Minister of Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs as its chairman. The members included a representative from each of the Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Education, Transport and Communications, Information and Broadcasting, the Planning Commission, the National Geographic Society of India, the Surveyor General of India, two members of Lok Sabha and one member of Rajya Sabha. This advisory board was dissolved in 1963 as it apparently accomplished nothing tangible. The problem of standardizing spellings of place names was again voiced by the Census Commissioner of India. The latter relied upon the central statistical organization for the spellings of the names of states and districts; in turn, the latter depended on names provided by the Survey of India. The difficulty lay with the names of scale units like taluk, town and village, where the spellings were provided by the State Survey Department. Soon it was realized that there was a gross discrepancy between the spellings of several place names as communicated by the State Department and the reality on the ground. In 1979, this matter caught the attention of the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. Professor M. G. K. Menon, Secretary to the Government of India, wrote to all state governments to set up in each state a ‘State Names Authority’ to standardize place names. Such advice emanated from the United Nations Organization, which favoured a method of international standardization.

United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names The United Nations Organization entered the discussion of place names with the realization that for free flow of information, people and goods across the world, the place names on maps, in mass media, communication and transport demand a ‘standard’ practice in their naming, pronunciation and writing. The critical need for an international standardization of place names can be traced to World War II, when the inconsistencies and contradictions among many place names came to the forefront. This posed a serious problem for surveyors, map makers and scientists. Above all, a uniform geographic nomenclature was an urgent requirement for planning a war. Operations for military strategies and defence need maps with a consistent set of place names. In response, the United States of America set up the Foreign Name Committee in 1947 to meet such an

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eventuality. Its main role was to iron out the differences in the spellings of names across countries and generate a uniform system of referencing. Taking a cue from this wartime emergency, the question about the ‘standardized’ way of writing geographical names was raised by the United Nations Cartographic Section of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in the late 1940s. It was further discussed in the 1950s and in pursuance of the resolution of the Economic and Social Council of April 23, 1959 the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) was formed. The mandate for the UNGEGN was to deal with the problems of domestic and international standardization of geographical names. It was to offer suggestions and recommendations primarily for linguistic standardization. The goal was to achieve clear communication through the maps and documents produced by the United Nations, and there by avoid any ambiguity and confusion in spellings or name application. The First United Nations Conference of UNGEGN was held at Geneva in 1968. Its recommendations were as follows: i. Unnecessary changing of names must be avoided. ii. The spelling of geographical names must be in accordance with the current orthographic practice of the country as much as possible, with due regard to dialect forms. iii. The systematic treatment of names should not operate to suppress significant elements. iv. Where some names occur in varying or grammatical forms, the national names authority should consider making one of those forms as the official standard name. v. All countries are to set up standards for the use of abbreviations of elements in their geographical names. vi. A system be devised in each country for the treatment of compound names, for example, whether or not hyphens, mid-name and capital letters are to be used. A major directive of the UNGEGN is that each country should set up a state names authority to achieve the goals of national standardization. Some countries like the United States of America, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and New Zealand had set up their place name boards even prior to the UNGEGN resolution. Others went ahead to constitute such boards a bit later. Here are examples of some countries and the year of formation of such a national names authority or board: Botswana (1967), Madagascar (1973), Jordan (1984), Australia (1985), Slovenia (1986), Venezuela (1989), Thailand (1992), Sudan (1996), Estonia (1997), South Africa (1998), Iran (2000) and Malaysia (2002). In some countries, geographical names merited special legislation. In Norway, the Norwegian Parliament passed a place name act in 1991. Estonia created and adopted its place names act in 1996. To date, India has not enacted a place name law.

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Standardization of place names for uninhabited parts of the earth, undersea features and even the moon The efforts to ‘standardize’ place names cover the world even beyond the inhabited parts of the earth. Antarctica is a continent with no permanent population or officially recognized government. The Special Committee on Antarctic Names of the United States of America was set up in 1943; where a surge in place naming occurred, whole mountain ranges, prominent peaks, large glaciers, ice-shelves and other topographic features were seen for the first time. This led to the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-names Committee in 1945. It has, on record, 18,626 names. Similarly, an Advisory Committee on Undersea Features to standardize geographic names for submarine features in offshore areas outside national territorial waters was established in 1963. By 2015, it had taken on board 10,340 names. Standardization of place names reached the moon as well. The International Astronomical Union is the body responsible for decisions about naming features on heavenly bodies. It has set clear guidelines for assigning names to features on the moon. Names of lunar craters are to align with the names of scientists or explorers who have made some significant contribution, preferably to the study of the moon and planets, and are deceased for at least three years before the official naming of the crater. These are not to duplicate any existing lunar names (Spudis, 2012). While the world has rapidly moved to standardize place names from sites on land to those under the sea to ones as far as the moon, India remains a reluctant partner in the effort to streamline the ‘standardization’ of place names on its own turf. Many indicators point at the reasons for India’s slumbered position.

India’s inefficiency to standardize its place names The UNGEGN is one of the seven expert groups of the Social Council of the United Nations. Therefore, it is obliged to follow up on the implementation of its resolutions. To comply with this, the United Nations Conference on Standardization of Geographical Names is held every five years, each having a number of sessions. Since 1967, the UNGEGN has held 24 sessions to discuss the various issues pertinent to place names. India’s lack of interest in place names is evident from her poor record of attendance at the UNGEGN conferences. It has skipped as many as five conferences. The main reason for this truancy is that India could not report any progress on its effort of standardization of place names. India’s lack of enrolment in the agenda of UNGEGN is also evident in the use of toponomic terminology that is listed in the Glossary of Terms for the Standardization of Geographical Names (UNGEGN, 2002). The report states that there is no evidence of the use of the system either in India or in its international cartographic products (United Nations Organization Group of Experts on Geographical Names, 1987). This should be a matter of concern.

136  Nationalism and place names

UNGEGN works on standardization of geographic names through its 24 divisions. A division is a group of countries with common interests based on geography and/or language. There is one India Division. The 1984 status report of the UNGEGN states that a regional meeting of the India Division has not taken place since its first meeting on August 30, 1977 in Athens. Moreover, the resolutions listed in the 1984 India Report only saw their fulfilment in 2017. For 33 years, India did not walk its talk about the standardization of place names. Here is the evidence: The 1984 Status Report, submitted by India to the UNGEGN, stated that the entire country had been covered on 1:50,000-scale surveys, that the work of collection of names in the field was complete and that a National Compendium of Place names was in preparation. However, even by 2017, after 34 years, such a compendium had not seen the light of the day. The report stated that initiation of a training course on toponomy at the Survey Training Institute was under consideration. By 2017, no such course was being offered at the Survey of India, Dehradun or at the Indian Institute of Surveying and Mapping, Hyderabad. When a written query for such a course was made at the office of the Survey of India, their one-line reply was: ‘You can opt for a web course on Toponomy on the UNGEGN website’. The report further informed that the ‘State Names Authority’, one for each state, had been appointed for some states and it was hoped the remaining states would do the same. By 2017, of a total of 36 states and union territories, only a handful – namely, Goa (1979), Mizoram (1983), Kerala (1984), Sikkim (1985), Delhi (1999) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (2013) – had established such an authority. Meanwhile the Government of India had framed and circulated the list of functions of the State Name Authority. This authority was obliged to: i. Research into and investigate the names of geographical entities falling wholly within the boundaries of the state or the union territory and standardization of their names and spellings in the state language(s). ii. Give names to new villages or towns and other geographical entities. iii. Undertake a scrutiny of proposals for alterations of existing names and process them in accordance with the Government of India’s letter of 1953. iv. Publish a list of standardized geographical names and ensure their use by the government agencies and public concerns. v. Act as a clearing house for information pertaining to geographical names. vi. Transliterate geographical names falling outside the state or union territory into the state language according to the system of transliteration approved by central government. vii. Coordinate and cooperate with the adjoining states in standardization of names.

Nationalism and place names  137

The instructions are laudable and achievable. A nagging question is, for how long will the rules and directives for place names in India exist on paper only? There are a handful of place names in India that are free from any of the rules, guidelines or procedures mentioned above. These are place names that the Survey of India or even, for that matter, the Ministry of Home Affairs cannot fix. The decision about these place names, by virtue of democracy, is vested in the people of India. In this group belong the names of the states and union territories of India. It would be worthwhile taking time to understand how the process of democratization operates to name and rename these subnational units of India.

15 16 17 18 19 20

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

2

1

Assam Assam Bihar Bihar Bihar Bihar

Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam

S. No. State/Union territory

1971–1981 2001–2011 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1981–1991

1971–1981 2001–2011 2001–2011 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1961–1971

2001–2011

1971–1981

Census decade with change

TABLE 7.A.1 Districts with change of name, 1961–2011

Ongole Cuddapah Nellore Kameng Frontier Division Lohit Frontier Division Siang Frontier Division Subansiri Frontier Division Tirap Frontier Division Kameng Siang Subansiri United Mikir and North Cachar Hills Mikir Hills North Cachar Hills Champaran Shahabad Singhbhum Santhal Pargana

Andamans

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

District (old name)

North & Middle Andaman

District (present name)

Karbi Anglong Dima Hasao Purba Champaran Bhojpur Pashchimi Singhbhum Dumka

Prakasam Y. S. R. Sri PottiSriramulu Nellore Kameng Lohit Siang Subansiri Tirap West Kameng West Siang Lower Subansiri Mikir Hills

Karbi Anglong Dima Hasao Purba Champaran Bhojpur Pashchimi Singhbhum Dumka

Prakasam Y. S. R. Sri PottiSriramulu Nellore West Kameng Lohit West Siang Lower Subansiri Tirap West Kameng West Siang Lower Subansiri Karbi Anglong

North & Middle Andaman North & Middle Andaman

Andaman

District (changed name)

Appendix 7.A: Districts with change of name and spelling across decades

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Gujarat Jammu and Kashmir Karnataka Karnataka Karnataka Lakshadweep

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Manipur Manipur Manipur Manipur Manipur Manipur Manipur Manipur Meghalaya

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

1961–1971 1961–1971 1971–1981 1971–1981 1961–1971 1971–1981 1991–2001 1961–1971 1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1991–2001 1971–1981

2001–2011 2001–2011 2001–2011 1981–1991 1961–1971 1961–1971 1991–2001 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981

Dantewada Kanker Kawardha Goa Dangs Kaira Ladakh Coorg North Kanara South Kanara Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands East Nimar West Nimar Khandwa Khargone Chanda Kolaba Greater Bombay Manipur Manipur Central Manipur East Manipur North Manipur South Manipur West Tengnoupal Imphal Garo Hills Khandwa Khargone East Nimar West Nimar Chandrapur Raigarh Mumbai Manipur Central Imphal Ukhrul Senapati Churachandpur Tamenglong Chandel Imphal West West Garo Hills

Dakshin Bastar Dantewada Uttar BastarKanker Kabeerdham North Goa The Dangs Kheda Leh (Ladakh) Kodagu Uttar Kannad Dakshin Kannad Lakshadweep East Nimar West Nimar East Nimar West Nimar Chandrapur Raigarh Mumbai Imphal West Imphal West Ukhrul Senapati Churachandpur Tamenglong Chandel Imphal West West Garo Hills (Continued)

Dakshin Bastar Dantewada Uttar BastarKanker Kabeerdham North Goa The Dangs Kheda Leh (Ladakh) Kodagu Uttar Kannad Dakshin Kannad Lakshadweep

1971–1981 1961–1971 1971–1981 1991–2001 1991–2001 1971–1981 1991–2001 2001–2011 1971–1981 2001–2011

Meghalaya Mizoram Mizoram Mizoram NCT of Delhi Odisha Odisha Puducherry Punjab Punjab

Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu

48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71

1971–1981 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 2001–2011 2001–2011 2001–2011 2001–2011 1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1991–2001 1991–2001

Census decade with change

S. No. State/Union territory

TABLE 7.A.1 Continued

Sikkim East District North District South District West District East North South West Chengalpattu North Arcot Tirunelveli Chengalpattu M.G.R. Chidambaranar

United Khasi and Jaintia Hills Mizo Hills Mizoram Chhimtuipui Delhi Baudh Khondmals Phulabani Pondicherry Ropar Nawanshahr

District (old name) East Khasi Hills Mizoram Aizawl Saiha New Delhi Phulabani Kandhamal Puducherry Rupnagar Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar East District East North South West East District North District South District West District Chengalpattu M.G.R. North Arcot Ambedkar Tirunelveli Kattabomman Kancheepuram Toothukudi

District (changed name) East Khasi Hills Aizawl Aizawl Saiha New Delhi Kandhamal Kandhamal Puducherry Rupnagar Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar East District East District North District South District West District East District North District South District West District Kancheepuram Vellore Tirunelveli Kancheepuram Thoothukkudi

District (present name)

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh

West Bengal

West Bengal West Bengal

78 79 80 81 82 83 84

85

86 87

Source: Compiled by author.

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu

72 73 74 75 76 77

1991–2001 2001–2011

1981–1991

1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1961–1971 2001–2011 2001–2011

1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001

West Dinajpur Medinipur

Twenty Four Parganas

Dindigul Anna Kamarajar Madras Nilgiri North Arcot Ambedkar Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Periyar South Arcot Tirunelveli Kattabomman Tiruvannamalai Sambuvarayar Tripura Hathras Sant Ravidas Nagar Erode Cuddalore Tirunelveli Tiruvanamalai West Tripura Mahamaya Nagar Sant Ravidas Nagar (Bhadohi) South Twenty Four Parganas Uttar Dinajpur Paschim Medinipur

Dindigul Virudhunagar Chennai The Nilgiris Vellore Sivaganga Erode Cuddalore Tirunelveli Tiruvannamalai West Tripura Mahamaya Nagar Sant Ravidas Nagar (Bhadohi) South Twenty Four Parganas Uttar Dinajpur Paschim Medinipur

Dindigul Virudhunagar Chennai The Nilgiris Vellore Sivaganga

TABLE 7.A.2 Districts with changed spellings of the name, 1961–2011 S. State/Union No. territory 1

2

3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Census decade Old spelling with change

Change of spelling

District (present name)

Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andaman & Nicobar Islands Andhra Pradesh Assam Assam Assam Bihar Bihar Bihar Bihar

1981–1991

Andaman

Andamans

North & Middle Andaman

1981–1991

Nicobar

Nicobars

Nicobar

2001–2011

Nicobars

Nicobar

Nicobar

2001–2011

Rangareddi

Rangareddy

Rangareddy

1971–1981 2001–2011 2001–2011 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981

Nowgong Marigaon Sibsagar Monghyr Palamau Purnea Santal Parganas

Nagaon Morigaon Sivasagar Munger Palamu Purnia Santhal Pargana

Bihar Bihar Chhattisgarh Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Gujarat Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Kerala

1981–1991 1991–2001 1991–2001 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1971–1981 1961–1971

Nawada Nawadah Raj Nandgaon Ahmedabad Banaskantha Baroda Broach Mehsana Panchmahals Sabarkantha Kutch Sirmur

Nawadah Nawada Rajnandgaon Ahmadabad Banas Kantha Vadodara Bharuch Mahesana Panch Mahals Sabar Kantha Kachchh Sirmaur

Nagaon Morigaon Sivasagar Munger Palamu Purnia NA – District bifurcated during 1981–1991 Nawada Nawada Rajnandgaon Ahmadabad Banas Kantha Vadodara Bharuch Mahesana Panch Mahals Sabar Kantha Kachchh Sirmaur

1971–1981

Kulu

Kullu

Kullu

1971–1981

Simla

Shimla

Shimla

1961–1971

Baramulla

Baramula

Baramula

1961–1971

Poonch

Punch

Punch

2001–2011

Rajauri

Rajouri

Rajouri

2001–2011 1971–1981 1981–1991 1981–1991

Pakaur Dharwar Alleppey Cannanore

Pakur Dharwad Alappuzha Kannur

Pakur Dharwad Alappuzha Kannur

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1981–1991 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 2001–2011 1961–1971 1971–1981 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1971–1981 1971–1981 1991–2001 1971–1981

Palghat Quilon Trichur Trivandrum Bhir Dhulia Nasik Poona Sholapur Thana Yeotmal Balasore Bolangir Keonjhar Sonapur Ferozepur Jullundur Chitorgarh Chingleput Kanyakumari Nilgiri Nilgiris Tiruchirapalli Tiruchchirappalli Naini Tal

Palakkad Kollam Thrissur Thiruvananthapuram Bid Dhule Nashik Pune Solapur Thane Yavatmal Baleshwar Balangir Kendujhar Subarnapur Firozpur Jalandhar Chittaurgarh Chengalpattu Kanniyakumari Nilgiris Nilgiri Tiruchchirappalli Tiruchirappalli Nainital

Palakkad Kollam Thrissur Thiruvananthapuram Bid Dhule Nashik Pune Solapur Thane Yavatmal Baleshwar Balangir Kendujhar Subarnapur Firozpur Jalandhar Chittaurgarh Kancheepuram Kanniyakumari The Nilgiris The Nilgiris Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli Nainital

1981–1991

Kanpur

Kanpur Nagar

Kanpur Nagar

1981–1991

Uttar Kashi

Uttarkashi

Uttar Kashi

1991–2001

Bara Banki

Barabanki

Bara Banki

1991–2001

Uttarkashi

Uttar Kashi

Uttar Kashi

2001–2011

Barabanki

Bara Banki

Bara Banki

63

Kerala Kerala Kerala Kerala Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Maharashtra Odisha Odisha Odisha Odisha Punjab Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh West Bengal

1961–1971

24 – Parganas

64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal West Bengal

1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1991–2001

Burdwan Cooch Behar Darjeeling Hooghly Howrah Malda Midnapore Purulia Calcutta

Twenty Four Parganas South Twenty Four Parganas Barddhaman Barddhaman Koch Behar Koch Behar Darjiling Darjiling Hugli Hugli Haora Haora Maldah Maldah Medinipur Paschim Medinipur Puruliya Puruliya Kolkata Kolkata

58 59 60 61 62

Source: Compiled by author.

Appendix 7.B: New names added to the district map, 1941–1961 TABLE 7.B New names added to the district map, 1941–1961

Cause of new name

No. of names  

Bifurcation of existing district

49

Merging of old districts

9

Merge then bifurcate 8

Total

66

Source: Compiled by author.

(1) Alleppey; (2) Anantnag; (3) Baramulla; (4) Barmer; (5) Bhilwara; (6) Cannanore; (7) Chamoli; (8) Chitorgarh; (9) Churu; (10) Dadra and Nagar Haveli; (11) Damoh; (12) Deoria; (13) Dhanbad; (14) Doda; (15) Ernakulam; (16) Ganganagar; (17) Jalor; (18) Jhunjhunu; (19) Jodhpur; (20) Kanyakumari; (21) Kathua; (22) Khammam; (23) Kottayam; (24) Kozhikode; (25) Ladakh; (26) Lahaul and Spiti; (27) Nagaur; (28) Narsimhapur; (29) Palghat; (30) Pali; (31) Pithoragarh; (32) Poonch; (33) Purulia; (34) Quilon; (35) Raisen; (36) Saharsa; (37) Satna; (38) Sawai Madhopur; (39) Sehore; (40) Seoni; (41) Shahdol; (42) Sidhi; (43) Sikar; (44) Srikakulam; (45) Srinagar; (46) Trivandrum; (47) Udaipur; (48) Udhampur; (49) Uttar Kashi (1) Banaskantha; (2) Bhatinda; (3) Bolangir; (4) Mahasu; (5) Mahendragarh; (6) Sangrur; (7) Sundargarh; (8) Surendranagar; (9) Tikamgarh Merged into Naga Hills-Tuensang Area and bifurcated into (1) Kohima; (2) Mokokchung; (3) Tuensang; Merged into NEFA and bifurcated into (4) Kameng Frontier Division; (5) Lohit Frontier Division; (5) Siang Frontier Division; (6) Subansiri Frontier Division; (7) Tirap Frontier Division

Appendix 7.C: Nature of name change of the districts, 1941–1961 TABLE 7.C Nature of name change of the districts, 1941–1961

Type of change

No. of names

Names

Spelling change

23

Prefix added

5

Suffix added Spelling change and suffix added Suffix removed

1 1

(1) Ahmednagar – Ahmadnagar; (2) Amraoti – Amravati; (3) Bir – Bhir; (4) Buldana – Buldhana; (5) Cawnpore – Kanpur; (6) Chitaldrug – Chitradurg; (7) Cutch – Kutch; (8) Drug – Durg; (9) Fyzabad – Faizabad; (10) Goona – Guna; (11) Jubbulpore – Jabalpur; (12) Kadur – Chikmagalur; (13) Kistna – Krishna; (14) Kotah – Kotah; (15) Madura – Madurai; (16) Muttra – Mathura; (17) Nander – Nanded; (18) Partabgarh – Partapgarh; (19) Rewah – Rewa; (20) Saugor – Sagar; (21) Sirmoor – Sirmur; (22) Tinnevelly – Tirunelveli; (23) Unao – Unnao (1) Khasi and Jaintia Hills – United Khasi and Jaintia Hills; (2) Dinajpur – West Dinajpur; (3) Kanara – North Kanara; (4) Dangs – The Dangs; (5) Nimar – East Nimar (1) Naga Hills – Naga Hills-Tuensang Area (1) Baud – Baudh Khondmals

Suffix removed, prefix added One word instead of two Two words instead of one Complete change of name

1

(1) Ajmer Merwara – Ajmer; (2) Sabarkantha Agency – Sabarkantha; (3) Jammu and Kashmir – Jammu (1) Bombay Suburban – Greater Bombay

1

(1) Panch Mahals – Panchmahals

1

(1) Nainital – Naini Tal

13

(1) Lushai Hills – Mizo Hills; (2) West Khandesh – Dhulia; (3) East Khandesh – Jalgaon; (4) Gird – Gwalior; (5) Bhilsa – Vidisha; (6) Ramnad – Ramanathapuram; (7) Tanjore – Thanjavur; (8) Trichinopoly – Tiruchirapalli; (9) Vizagapatam – Visakhapatnam; (10) Cochin – Trichur; (11) Bashahr – Kinnaur; (12) Benares – Varanasi; (13) Navanagar – Jamnagar

Total

49

3

Source: Compiled by author.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands Sikkim Manipur Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

1

5

Source: Compiled by author.

2 3 4

State/Union territory

S. No.

Nilgiri

Andaman

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Sikkim Manipur Chingleput

Nilgiris

East District Manipur Central Chengalpattu

First name change

Old name

1961–1971

1971–1981 1961–1971 1961–1971

1971–1981

Decade of 1stname change

TABLE 7.D.1 Districts with change (of name and spelling) thrice, 1961–2011

East Imphal Chengalpattu M.G.R. Nilgiri

Andamans

Second name change

1971–1981

1991–2001 1981–1991 1981–1991

1981–1991

Decade of 2nd name change

The Nilgiris

East District Imphal West Kancheepuram

North & Middle Andaman

Third name change

Appendix 7.D: Districts with change (of name and spelling) thrice and twice, 1961–2011

1991–2001

2001–2011 1991–2001 1991–2001

2001–2011

Decade of 3rdname change

Andaman & Nicobar Islands Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam

Bihar Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Mizoram Odisha Sikkim Sikkim Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh West Bengal West Bengal

1

2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Source: Compiled by author.

State/Union territory

S. No.

Kameng Frontier Division Siang Frontier Division Subansiri Frontier Division United Mikir and North Cachar Hills Nawada East Nimar West Nimar Mizo Hills Baudh Khondmals North District South District West District Tiruchirapalli Tirunelveli North Arcot Bara Banki Uttar Kashi Midnapore 24 – Parganas

Nicobar

Old name

Nawadah Khandwa Khargone Mizoram Phulabani North South West Tiruchchirappalli Tirunelveli Kattabomman North Arcot Ambedkar Barabanki Uttarkashi Medinipur Twenty Four Parganas

Kameng Siang Subansiri Mikir Hills

Nicobars

First name change

TABLE 7.D.2 Districts with change (of name and spelling) twice, 1961–2011

1981–1991 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1971–1981 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 1971–1981 1981–1991 1981–1991 1991–2001 1981–1991 1971–1981 1961–1971

1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971 1961–1971

1981–1991

Nawada East Nimar West Nimar Aizawl Kandhamal North District South District West District Tiruchirappalli Tirunelveli Vellore Bara Banki Uttar Kashi Paschim Medinipur South Twenty Four Parganas

West Kameng West Siang Lower Subansiri KarbiAnglong

Nicobar

Decade of Second name change 1st name change

1991–2001 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1991–2001 2001–2011 2001–2011 2001–2011 1991–2001 1991–2001 1991–2001 2001–2011 1991–2001 2001–2011 1981–1991

1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981 1971–1981

2001–2011

Decade of 2nd name change

8 DEMOCRATIZATION OF PLACE NAMES Parliament debates the names of the states and union territories of India

India is carved into 29 states and 7 union territories (see Figure 8.1). When India gained independence in 1947 the politico-administrative map of India was a potpourri of 9 full or part provinces, 552 princely states, 5 centrally administered areas, and remnants of Portuguese and French territories. This was more than the total number of independent states in the world at that time. To this end, the immediate challenge for the leaders of post-independence India was to integrate the scattered princely states within its national structure. The Indian States Department had been created under the Home Ministry in 1947 to deal with matters arising between the Central Government and the Indian states. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was given charge of the department, who followed an ingenious policy to meet the situation. The bigger princely states, such as Mysore, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir, were kept in their inherited form as new political entities. The numerous smaller states were amalgamated to form the union of states. In this mode, Kathiawar (Saurashtra) was inaugurated on February 15, 1948. Rajasthan, which included Mewar and nine other small states of Rajputana and Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Jaisalmer, was subsequently formed on March 30, 1949; Himachal Pradesh, consisting of 21 princely states, was formed on April 15, 1948;Vindhya Pradesh was created on April 4, 1948, with 35 states of Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand; and Madhya Bharat, also known as Malwa Union, comprising the princely states of Gwalior and Indore, was constituted on May 28, 1948. Seven princely states in east Punjab were merged to form the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) on August 20, 1948. On similar lines were merged the princely states of Travancore and Cochin. Patel accomplished the Herculean task of consolidating the fragmented political map of India within much less than three years.This was done with extraordinary statesmanship and skill, using persuasion, negotiation and even threats. With the formation of new subnational units there also arose the need for their names. While some states did carry forward their names, there were a few

Democratization of place names  149

FIGURE 8.1 India: Chronology

of formation of subnational units (states and union territories), 1956–2017.

Source: Compiled by author.

that involved themselves in discussion and heated debates prior to the names reaching the Houses of Parliament. Such a case is that of Uttar Pradesh or the United Provinces.

Naming subnational units in post-independent India: The case of United Provinces Since 1902 the United Province had been known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh; in 1937, this nomenclature was shortened to the United Provinces or UP. A few days after independence, a debate started in the Uttar Pradesh

150  Democratization of place names

Legislature over the question of a ‘suitable name’ for the province. Here are some excerpts from the seminal work of Kudaisya (2006) on this region: In the debate of September 11, 1947, Chandra Bhal, a Congress MLC (Member of Legislative Council), rose to move a motion for changing UP’s name and put forth several suggestions: ‘I would call myself Hindustani for lack of anything better. I think it gives us certain amount of importance and will give us I think greater importance than other names. I would like to have Hindustan particularly at this juncture because the word “Hindustani” is being given a very sinister meaning by some people as being the land of the Hindus against Pakistan. I think this would be a good answer to that also’. The legislator Pandit Bandri Datt Pande said: ‘When Aryans came here, they called it Aryavarta or the abode of Aryas. I think this is the original name’. There were important dissenting voices too. Sheikh Masood-ul-Zaman, a Muslim legislator, shot down the very idea of renaming the province. ‘We know that UP was called United Provinces because the two provinces of Agra and Awadh were united’. Another dissenter was Abdul Hamid of the Muslim League: United Province is such a lovely name which reflected strong bond of unity and today we are being told that it no more seems lovely … This province elevated its name to United. In future we would like to name the provinces after the name of those leaders that have contributed in the freedom struggle of India. For example, if we name our province ‘Jawaharnagar’, Jawaharlal Nehru’s name will be written in the history of the world … Similarly if we name it ‘Azadnagar’, we can acknowledge the service of Mulana Abul Kalam Azad. Nandkishore Upadhayaya from Almora suggested in a letter to Swatantra Bharat that ‘from the geographical point of view, it would be almost appropriate to call this state “Himalaya Pradesh”’. He argued that the life of the province was shaped by the Himalayas. By June 1948, the UP cabinet had thrown up many names suggested by several local bodies and individuals (see Table 8.1). The matter resurfaced, with some urgency, in October 1949, around the time when the Constituent Assembly was finalizing the draft Constitution in New Delhi. The new Constitution was to feature names of the provinces and the union. With the Constitution drafted at a fairly advanced stage, members from UP in the Constituent Assembly reopened the issue. The UP Provincial Congress Committee, in an overwhelming majority of 106 members, supported the motion for Aryavarta. The only other proposal considered worthy of discussion

Democratization of place names  151 TABLE 8.1 Alternative names suggested for Uttar Pradesh, 1947–1950 S. No. Suggested name

S. No. Suggested name

S. No. Suggested name

S. No. Suggested name

1.

Aryavarta

6.

Brij Kaushal

11

Brahmadesh

16.

2.

7.

Brij Kosal

12.

Hindustan

17.

3.

Aryavarta Pradesh Avadh

8.

Brahmavarta

13.

4.

Oudh

9.

5.

Bharat Khand 10.

Prant Bhagirath 14. Pradesh Bhramadesh 15.

Himalaya 18. Koshlam Krishna Kushal 19. Province Madhayadesh 20.

Naimisharanya Pradesh Nava Hindu Ram Krishna Prant Ram Krishna Pradesh Uttara Khand

Source: Adapted from Kudaisya, 2006.

and voting was Markandey Singh’s Hind, which secured 22 votes. However, the Aryavarta proposal was stalled within days. At the meeting of Congress members of the Constituent Assembly in New Delhi, the central leadership dismissed the entire issue. To address such concerns, Law Minister Dr. B. R. Ambedkar moved a bill, which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, empowering the governor general to alter names of provinces constituting the union. Pant promised that names like Aryavarta or Hindustan would not be suggested again. While the Constituent Assembly was busy finalizing the draft of the Constitution of India, the subnational units were engaged in discussion over names and the Home Department was engrossed in consolidating the patchwork of a variety of political jurisdictions. The Constituent Assembly met for the first time in New Delhi on December 9, 1946, and its last session was held on January 24, 1950. During this period, the Assembly held 11 sessions and as many as 114 days were devoted to the deliberations on the draft of the Constitution. Within its hectic schedule and many agendas, time was taken to discuss the question and queries of names for the new subnational units of independent India. While the name ‘Aryavarta’ for United Provinces was dismissed by the central leadership, other names, such as ‘Madhya Pradesh’ and ‘West Bengal’, were selected. The discussion was very interesting and the decision was prompt, as is evident from the following excerpt. With the Honourable Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the chair, the proceedings over the question of names within the Constituent Assembly, November 16 and 17, 1949 are as follows: Shri Jaspat Roy Kapoor: Mr. President, one important amendment remains … regard to the name to the United Provinces. Shri Mohan Lal Gautam: The real question before the House is that the name of the United Provinces is to be changed.

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Shri K. Santhanam: Our difficulty is not objection to changing the name but only to ‘Aryavarta’. Similarly we cannot allow the Governor-General also to change the name to ‘Aryavarta’. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: It cannot be Aryavarta as the party has given its verdict on that. Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant: What you have rejected will not be put forward by the United Provinces Government nor accepted by the Governor-General. That we all accept. Shri A. Thanu Pillai (United States of Travancore and Cochin): It is for this House to decide. The people of the Province may like to call it ‘Bharata Hriday’. We will not accept that. It is a matter of importance for the whole of India as to what parts of it are called by what names. The question is that for the name the ‘United Provinces’ the name ‘Aryavarta’ be substituted. The amendment was negative. Shri T. T. Krishnamachari: Mr. President, Sir, honorable Members of this House will please note that amendment for changing the name from ‘Koshal Vidarbh’ to ‘Madhya Pradesh’. The amendment was adopted. Shri T. T. Krishnamachari: There is another amendment that ‘Bengal’ may be changed to ‘West Bengal’. So it may be put as amended. Mr. President: Yes, we take that amendment which has been moved today with regard to the name of Bengal, ‘West Bengal’ will be put in place of ‘Bengal’.

Naming the subnational units: Discontent over linguistic reorganization India was proclaimed a Sovereign Democratic Republic and a Union of States on January 26, 1950. Meanwhile, the Constitution of India had been drafted and the divisions of India were classified and named alphabetically as Part A, Part B, Part C and Part D state (see Figure 8.2). The name of East Punjab was changed to Punjab (India) and Greater Rajasthan Union became Rajasthan state. These alphabetic groups were dropped as soon as the amalgamation of states was achieved. No sooner had the subnational units been created and their names announced than discontent arose from different quarters of India. The main grouse among the people, especially the regional leaders, was that the politicoadministrative map of India had been put together hurriedly and in a haphazard manner. The seeds of this discontent were also connected with the promises that had been made regarding the formation of linguistic states. To understand the roots of this discontent, one would have to refer to the report of the Indian Statutory Commission of 1915. The Commission had recognized that the provincial boundaries that existed embraced areas and population with no natural affinity, and it asserted that ‘there is no doubt that the use of a common speech is a strong and natural basis for provincial individuality’. Mahatma Gandhi favoured the use of people’s linguistic sensibilities for collective

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FIGURE 8.2 India:

Alphabetics as group names for states, 1950.

Source: Compiled by author.

organization. The All India Congress Committee officially accepted the Principle of Linguistic Reorganization of States at its Nagpur Session in 1920. The leadership of Congress reiterated the same stand on this matter before the Indian Statutory Commission of 1927 and suggested the creation of Utkal, Andhra, Sind and Karnataka on this basis. The Congress manifesto of 1945 assured the people that provinces would be formed on linguistic and cultural bases. The voices of all these demands were pacified on an assurance that due recognition would be accorded once India gained freedom. But when the states were formed at the time of adoption of the Constitution of India, it became apparent that the linguistic principle had not been followed. This angered the regional leaders.

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The spark was ignited by the Telugu activist Pottu Sriramulu who went on a hunger strike for a separate Telugu-speaking state of Andhra Pradesh. He died on December 15, 1952 after 56 days of fasting, during which period the region experienced large-scale violence. Subsequently, on October 1, 1953, Andhra State came into existence. This was the first state of the country created on a linguistic basis after independence. With this situation at hand, the Government of India appointed the States Reorganization Commission under the Ministry of Home Affairs on December 29, 1953, under the chairmanship of Justice S. Fazl Ali, with Hriday Nath Kunzru and Kavalam Madhava Pannikar as members. The Commission toured the country, met about 9,000 people and processed 1,52,250 applications, memoranda and communications, and then prepared the assigned document. The Report of the State Reorganization Commission (1955) is a dense document, not so much in number of pages but rather in its analysis, findings and recommendations. The issues discussed range from the logic of formation of a state, the criteria for its delimitation, fixation of its boundaries and ascertaining its financial viability. One among the terms of reference for the State Reorganization Commission was to recommend the names for the reorganised units. The report was tabled in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the April sessions of 1956. This was consistent with the country’s Constitution, which affirms that India is a union of states. It informs that: ‘The territory of India shall comprise the territories of the States, the Union territories specified in the First Schedule and such other territories as may be acquired’. A further assertion is that ‘Parliament may by law (a) form a new State (b) increase the area of any State; (c) diminish the area of any State; (d) alter the boundaries of any State, and (e) alter the name of any State’. The Members of Parliament are democratically elected and they discuss, deliberate and debate the names of the states and union territories of India. What comes to the fore is the fact that it was for the first time in the history of India that names of states were to be finalized not at the whim and fancy of a king, military chief, autocratic ruler, tribal clan or a revered priest in power, but by the people of India. The Houses of Parliament is a national, fully democratic and representative body, which decides the names of the subnational units on the politico-administrative map of India. The democratization of place names is, thus, apparent in the naming of the states and union territories of India.

The Constitution of India on naming the subnational units The Constitution of India in its Article 3 laid down the following procedure for changing the name of a state. The concerned state favours the adoption of a specific name in its legislature and forwards it on to the central government for consideration. A bill for the name of a state or union territory, or for that matter for a change in the name, needs to be passed by both Houses of Parliament, comprising the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. In the case of both houses approving

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the bill, it is sent to the President of India. Implementation follows only after the President gives his consent. It should be understood that the need to debate names in Parliament arises in two different situations: first, when a new state is being formed, and second, when there is a demand for an alteration of an existing name. In the debates about naming and renaming of states, one can read a story of struggle for distinctiveness and assertion. These debates mirror the spirit and substance of democracy. Since the constitution of the Parliament of India in 1952 up until January 26, 2016, the Lok Sabha has met 192 times over 436 sessions; the Rajya Sabha is a continuous body and does not dissolve and there have been 244 sessions of the Rajya Sabha. Among hundreds of other bills and issues raised, a total of 23 bills were raised that debated the question of place names. Within these, 17 bills were on the formation and creation of new states, and 6 bills were specifically on the change of name (see Appendix 8.A). What do these parliamentary debates reveal about the naming and renaming process of the subnational units of India? What were the arguments that were tendered for and against a given proposal? What are the salient features of the debates?

Features of the Parliament debates on names The debate among the Parliamentarians occurs in a ‘mixed bag of thoughts’, where coherent statements that display knowledge of the subject in hand are abutted with retorts and cynical comments along party lines. It is common in debates that parliamentarians digress and peter out into other issues and revert to the core issue at hand in a roundabout or trailing manner. The result is that whereas in a ‘normal’ debate one would expect the arguments to be presented in a neat pro and con arrangement, in the debates of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the sequence gets disjointed and the pattern has to be discerned and retrieved. Given such a situation, it became necessary to wade through the debates, weed out the irrelevant, and fish for the lineaments of the main argument according to the pertinent subject; in this case, it is of the place name in hand. The printed format of debates is the verbatim report of a parliamentarian’s spoken words. The debates are both in English and Hindi. Further, it was noticed that the content of the arguments did not change in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, therefore, to avoid repetition, the debates of both Houses were clubbed together but the distinction was maintained through reference. The objective was to grasp the spirit of concern for the place name and bring the argument being made to surface. When the debates on the subject of naming the subnational units of India were put together the following facts emerged: ••

Parliamentarians across party lines participate in the debate on place names. Such a concern was not confined to the representatives of the concerned state but attracted the attention of parliamentarians from various other states as well.

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•• ••

••

••

There were debates within debates. When it was agreed upon that an ‘ancient’ name would be most desirable, then many alternatives were thrown up for consideration. A commonality shared by all debates was that the sentiment, affiliation and viewpoint of the local people were given due consideration while adopting or changing a name. Strung along here was the support of history, geography and culture. Most, though not all, of the names for states and union territories were discussed by both Houses of Parliament. Only a few were accepted unanimously, obviating the need for any discussion or voting. In this category fall the likes of Sikkim, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Kerala. Flexibility is also observed on the issue of place names. It signifies that even when a name for a specific state has received consent of both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha this does not mean the name gets ‘cast in stone’. As and when the people of the state raised their voice for a change of name, and got it passed in their state legislature, a bill for alteration of name was tabled in the Houses of Parliament for discussion. In some cases, the change was affected within 6 years, for others it took 60 years. The demand for the name Uttarakhand was debated in the year 2000 during the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2000, but because of the majority in the House it was named Uttaranchal; its name was changed to Uttarakhand in 2006, that is, six years after the formation of the state. In contrast it took 17 years to change the name of the state of Mysore to Karnataka. The sheer act of alteration of the name demonstrated that the peoples’ voice was duly honoured. It was a democratic decision.

The subject of the name of a state or union territory was a matter of concern in the Parliament but the degree of concern did differ. For some states a discussion on its name carried a marginal value while, for many, a name was loaded with immense significance and was more than a string of letters of the alphabet. The following excerpts bring home the contrasting viewpoints of parliamentarians on both sides of the fence, one of benign indifference and the other of serious concern. (In presenting, or while quoting from, the debates, a consistent pattern of referencing has been followed: Date; Name of the parliamentarian; State; Political party; Name of the bill; and presented in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. The presentations on a particular bill are arranged as far possible in chronological order). Here are some of the selected statements of parliamentarians who display complete indifference to the issue of place names: I agree about the undesirability of changing the name of Bombay to Maharashtra but I am not inclined to quarrel over small things. After all, there is nothing in a name; it is the spirit in which we manage things that counts. 23-Apr-06; Prof. A. R. Wadia, Nominated; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Rajya Sabha

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The party started this movement by the name of Vananchal and it was proposed that a state with the name of Vananchal should be created…What is in a name, names change. What matters is the feeling and background. Shakespeare says, ‘What is in a name, the thing that we call a rose would smell equally good if called by other name’! Hence it is equally good if the new State is named Jharkhand instead of Vananchal. 10-Aug-00; Shri Parmeshwar Kumar Agarwalla; Bihar; Bharatiya Janata Party; Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 2000; Rajya Sabha It is very good that leaders did not force upon the name of Vananchal and agreed on the name of Jharkhand. So old is the name of Jharkhand and good the Bill was not stalled on the naming. 11-Aug-00; Shri Nagendra Nath Ojha; Bihar; Communist Party of India; Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 2000; Rajya Sabha On the contrary, there were several parliamentarians who underline the immense value of appropriate place names and made a forceful plea in their favour. Here are some of the selected illustrations of this kind. A name gives the idea of the culture of a place and the nation, the idea of its tradition and the idea of the history of its tradition. 05-Dec-68; Shri P Das; Uttar Pradesh; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha It has been accepted that there is something in a name, and the name signifies the ancient history of the people. The people take pride in it, and there is glory in it, and there is an everlasting link of the people with their past history and heritage through a name. 27-Jul-73; Shri Birendra Singh Rao; Haryana; Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP); Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha Our names are symbolic of our identities. They are the symbols of our national pride and honour, our glorious past, our cultural heritage and our history and civilization. They are not mere indicators of persons, places, cities, regions and provinces. They are, indeed, the embodiments of our national and cultural identity. 10-Nov-10; Dr. Janardhan Waghmare; Maharashtra; Nationalist Congress Party; Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Rajya Sabha Equally engaging were the proceedings when a change in the name was involved. A sense of strong commitment was displayed by parliamentarians while making a case in their favour. Here are some excerpts as evidence. One may ask the question ‘Why should you change the name of a State?’ By changing the name we derive a sentimental satisfaction. Behind the idea of changing the name there are emotions, sentiments and psychological factors

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with regard to our culture, language and social attitudes. When we change, something is changed in our thinking, in our soul and in our fibre. 21-Nov-68; Shri Murasoli Maran; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha I should explain the rationale as to why we are asking for the change in the name.We are taking corrective measures to a mistake committed in the history. 24-Aug-06; Prof. M. Ramadass; Pondicherry; Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK); Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Lok Sabha Going back to the original names is part of the process of decolonization. It is an integral part of nationalism. 10-Nov-10; Dr. Janardhan Waghmare; Maharashtra; Nationalist Congress Party; Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Rajya Sabha It is not just a change of name; it is a symbol; it is a matter of prestige. 10-Nov-10; Dr. Chandan Mitra; Madhya Pradesh; Bharatiya Janata Party; Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Rajya Sabha The value of the place name can be gauged in the joyful expressions used by parliamentarians when the name is changed according to ‘their desire and wishes’. I congratulate the Minister for bringing in the old name and reverting back to the ancient name. 21-Aug-06; Shri R. Shunmugasundaram; Tamil Nadu; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Rajya Sabha Today our land of birth gets its history rewritten. It is a golden lettered day. It is a day for rejoicing. 24-Aug-06; Prof. M. Ramadass; Pondicherry; Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK); Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Lok Sabha

A classification of the Parliament debates over names The Parliamentary debates translate the theory of place names and the process of place naming into practice. This is evident from the reasons adduced for the choice of a given place name. When the debates were put together and analyzed on the basis of what the underlying bone of contention was, there emerged five pairs of controversies regarding the name of a state: i. ii. iii. iv. v.

Capital city versus a regional name. Foreign versus indigenous name. Multiple versus single name. Prevalent versus popular name. Inclusive versus exclusive names.

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The following excerpts will help convey the substance, spirit and style of the variety of debates in the Indian Parliament on the names of states and union territories submitted for their approval.

Capital city versus a regional name Falling into this group was the debate on place names like Bombay versus Maharashtra, Mysore versus Karnataka and Madras versus Tamil Nadu. In each case, the capital city had acquired such overwhelming eminence that the territory under its purview was known by its very name. On the contrary, the argument was that the name of the capital city is recent and Anglicized whereas the name of the region is ancient and steeped in the history of the area. The basic point hammered home was that the regional name is older and has evolved with the territory while the city name has been imposed by outsiders and has limited connection with the place. The argument of the capital city versus region is also ingrained with the logic that while the former is a ‘point’ in space, the region is an ‘area’ with identifiable characteristics in terms of cultural and linguistic affinity.

Bombay versus Maharashtra The name Bombay did not become a point of lengthy debate, as this suggestion was assertively nipped in the bud. The following extract is the evidence: The Joint Committee had agreed that instead of Bombay it should be called the State of Maharashtra. So that is hardly any argument against the course that the Joint Committee has adopted. Whether otherwise Bombay would or would not have been a suitable name is no longer an open issue. We have all decided that Bombay should be called Maharashtra and so it will be. 19-Apr-60; Shri Govind Ballabh Pant; Minister of Home Affairs, Congress; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha Whereas the name Bombay was resolved with apparent ease, the place name Mysore versus Karnataka, and alongside the name Madras versus Tamil Nadu, continued to knock at the doors of the Parliament. Here are the excerpts:

Mysore versus Karnataka Mysore State was created in 1953 by unifying the Kannada-speaking areas, and the name was retained for over two decades. The state was reorganised in 1956 and was renamed in 1973. Why and how was the name changed? Listed below are the views expressed in the Parliament on the issue. The Mysore legislature wants ‘Mysore’ to continue. The leaders of Mysore were somewhat reluctant to join the other districts which will now form

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part of the bigger Mysore State. Their reluctance was, however, overcome and they were persuaded to accept this proposal for a bigger Mysore State on the understanding that the name ‘Mysore’ would be retained. So, in the circumstances, it would not be desirable to make any change. 9-Aug-56; Shri Govind Ballabh Pant; Minister of Home Affairs; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha About the name, I want to say a word. Certain friends have suggested a change in the name of Mysore. They want it to be Karnataka. How our Kerala friends are concerned about the name of Mysore is a thing, which is very difficult for all to understand. Sir, Tamil Nad is Madras; Maharashtra and Gujarat is Bombay; and likewise U.P. is Uttar Pradesh. It does not go by the name of Hindi State. But with regard to Mysore alone they want to have a change to Karnataka. 20-Aug-56; Shri H. C. Dasappa; Mysore; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Rajya Sabha And so far as the name is concerned, I have already explained that out of consideration for the feelings of our Mysore friends we agreed that it should be called ‘Mysore’, Out of consideration only for our friends we decided to work together in the highest interests of the nation, and therefore, we have surrendered our desire to have the name of Karnataka. 23-Aug-56; Shri Balwantrao Nageshrao Datar; Bombay; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Rajya Sabha All in the House were not in agreement about the name Mysore. I do not know why the name of Mysore is being continued for this new state. Why not Karnatak? It is a better name. It can inspire greater hopes and will perhaps deepen the democratic sense of the people of that region if this name is given to it. 23-Apr-56; Swami Ramananda Tirtha; Hyderabad; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha In the end, when the city name Mysore was retained, a parliamentarian predicted, and rightly so, that: If you will not keep the name Karnatak now, you will have to go through the hardships in order to amend the Constitution again to come back to this name. 31-Jul-56; Shri Sivamurthi Swami; Hyderabad; Independent; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha The States Reorganisation Commission have given the name Karnataka State. This word has a history behind it. Even in scriptures like Baratham

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and Bhagavatham, the name Karnataka appears. There is no rhyme or reason in calling it Mysore. 2-Aug-56; Shri Krishnacharya Joshi; Hyderabad; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha I want the substitution of ‘Karnataka’ for Mysore for the very reason that the name Mysore reflects the name of one city. 2-Aug-56; Smt. Renu Chakravartty; West Bengal; Communist Party; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha The word ‘Mysore’ is an old feudal relic whereas in the new State Karnataka people will all be coming together. If friends insist on the name Mysore being retained for the State, because that happens to be the name of the capital of this state, following the same logic, we will have to change the name of our country from India to Delhi. After all the capital of this great country is in Delhi and so the whole country should be called Delhi. That obviously is not the intention. So I say, the whole of this new State where the people speak Kannada should be called Kannada. 23-Aug-56; Shri N. C. Sekhar; Travancore-Cochin; Communist Party of India; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Rajya Sabha The Mysore kingdom itself has taken its birth from the name of Karnataka. Also, the Maharaja of Mysore is known as ‘Karnataka Simhasanadheeshwar’. 23-Aug-56; Shri Balwantrao Nageshrao Datar; Bombay; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Rajya Sabha And the change to Karnataka happened after 17 years, when the Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, was tabled in 1973. Here the need to keep a regional name versus the capital city name for the state was defended with great vehemence: The old Mysore leaders and people were so much sentimentally attached to the old Mysore State and so they were not willing to change the name to Karnataka. 27-Jul-73; Shri K. K. Shetty; Mysore; Congress; Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha The propriety of the Bill falls under three main categories: historical, geographical and cultural. Vizaynagara Empire was the golden age of Karnataka Empire. In the ‘Shabdamanidarpana’, a well authenticated Kannada Dictionary; it has been described as the region lying between Godavari River in the North and Cauvery River in the South. It was called Karnataka and ruled by Kings of Vizaynagara. The people of the said region spoke Kannadaa, as their mother tongue. Kannada poets have also used the word Karnataka in their works, signifying to mean Karnataka as the land of Kannadings. Thus the word ‘Karnataka’ is pregnant with definite meaning.

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As to the geographical aspect, the entire area is one and contiguous and not interrupted by any. Therefore, it is well-knit area comprising mainly of Kannadigas. According to the well-known saying that ‘birds of the same feather will flock together’, it is but natural, that we have to come under a common roof and banner. According to the report of the States Reorganisation Commission, States were reorganised on linguistic basis. Mainly taking the language of the region into consideration the said States have been renamed. So also, here, it is in the fitness of things that Mysore is renamed as Karnataka for the reasons obvious and otherwise. 27-Jul-73; Shri K. Chikkalingaiah; Mysore; Congress; Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha While Karnataka included Mysore, Mysore itself never included Karnataka. 8-Aug-73; Shri Patil Puttappa; Mysore; NA; Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Rajya Sabha

Madras versus Tamil Nadu A similar line of thinking of the name of a city versus that of a region is reflected in the case of the arguments for the state name Madras versus Tamil Nadu. In the case of Madras State, the city of Madras is there. But why not call the State, Tamil Nad? 23-Apr-56; Shri Hirendra Nath Mukherjee; West Bengal; Communist Party; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha I respectfully ask, by removing the name Madras from the map of India, what does it profit the Tamilians? … There is much in favour of retaining the name of Madras. There is tradition and story behind it. It is hardly fair to the other linguistic groups that have also contributed to build up the city and that have contributed to the growth of the State. The opinion of the Madras Legislature is to the effect that the name should not be changed. There is a lot of goodwill in that name, the value of which cannot be measured in rupees, annas and pies. I ask the honourable Members who want to change the name, why should you squander the treasure in the good name that you have got? Even with regard to the people coming from the south, whether Tamilians or others, from our dress, from our language – even though I speak Malayalam, I am asked, are you a Madrassi? 01-Aug-56; Shri A.M. Thomas; Travancore-Cochin; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha The South Indians object to that very strongly. 01-Aug-56; Smt. RenuChakravartty; West Bengal; Communist Party; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha

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They may object. What I want to emphasize is that Malayalees have contributed their quota to the building up of the Madras city and the Madras State. Even if you are reorganising the States on linguistic considerations, I feel that the name of Madras should be retained. As I said, even a Malayalee is called a Madrassi though his language is Malayalam. Whenever we go to big cities like Bombay, Calcutta or Delhi, from our dress, etc., the people in the north ask, ‘Are you a Madrasi?’ There is something in that name. I feel that, the name Madras should be retained. 01-Aug-56; Shri A.M. Thomas; Travancore-Cochin; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha The name Madras was retained but it carried the seeds of discontent and there were many who had voiced their arguments against this name even in 1956. Madras should be called Tamil Nad. As you know, Dravida Kazhagam is the most important party in Madras State and its leader has expressed that the State should be called as Tamil Nad and not as Madras. 01-Aug-56; Shri Y. Gadilingana Goud; Madras; Praja Socialist Party (PSP); States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha Today the name should rather reflect the entire people of that area. That is why today the people of Tamil Nad want that their State should be called Tamil Nad and not Madras. We do not call the Bengal State as Calcutta State. It is trying to narrow down and to a certain extent give less value to the sentiments of the people. 02-Aug-56; Smt. Renu Chakravartty; West Bengal; Communist Party; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha I only want the name ‘Madras’ should be changed to ‘Tamilnad’. We are having a compact linguistic State and the name of the State should accordingly be Tamilnad. I say, Tamilnad is a fine expression. They have a fine culture and a fine literature and, therefore, I submit that this State should bear the name Tamilnad. 23-Aug-56; Shri Bhupesh Gupta; West Bengal; Communist Party of India; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956, Rajya Sabha Here it needs to be mentioned that in 1956 the name Madras was retained and the debate over the name was reinitiated in 1968. The arguments against the name Madras got stronger when the Madras State Name Alteration Bill was tabled in 1968. Who stood in the way of renaming ‘Madras’ as ‘Tamilnad’? When the States Reorganisation Bill was considered in this Parliament, the then Home Minister said in his speech: ‘A suggestion has also been made that for “Madras”, “Tamilnad” should be substituted’. The question was considered

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by the Madras Legislature itself and it did not prefer the name of Tamilnad for Madras. So we have retained ‘Madras’, the existing name of the State. I wish to quote what a spokesman of the Tamilnad Congress Committee, Mr. T. S. Pattabhiraman, has said in the Rajya Sabha. He said that ‘there has been Bengal and there must be Kerela historically, but there has been no Tamilnad historically’. He further said that ‘we do not want this name to be changed from Madras to Tamilnad because we are better known as Madras than as Tamilnad’. At that time, the then, Industries Minister, M. R. Venkataraman, who is now a member of the Planning Commission said that if we change Madras into Tamil Nad, great difficulties would come up with regard to international agreements entered to in the name of Madras. What a childish argument it was! Some years back Gold Coast changed its name to Ghana. What difficulty did it encounter? It took 15 years to get this resolution unanimously passed in the legislature of our State. When Anna, our Chief Minister, moved a resolution in Tamil Nadu legislature on July 18, 1967, the entire house rose and cheered not once or twice, but thrice Vazhga Tamil Nadu! 21-Nov-68; Shri Murasoli Maran; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha As expressed in the unanimous vote in the Madras Legislature, what is now going to be implemented is the substitution of the name Tamil Nadu for Madras. 22-Nov-68; Shri H. N. Mukerjee; West Bengal; Communist Party; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha Madras is not the real name of our State. Earlier, it was given to us by the British. Earlier, it was a town called Chennaipattinam. There were many pattinams like Kaveripattinam, Nagapattinam, Chennaipattinam, Masulipattinam and Visakapattinam. British found those names difficult to pronounce and so they changed all those names. 22-Nov-68; Shri V. Krishnamoorthi Gounder; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha The name of the city only was Madras, not the entire area, and ‘Madras’ does not answer to the emotions of people of the area nor to the language which is entirely a musical language with a great literature. 05-Dec-68; Shri M. H. Samuel; Andhra Pradesh; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha ‘Madras’ is foreign to us. ‘Madras’ is a name given to us by the British. ‘Madras’ is derived originally from the name ‘Chennapatnam’ which earlier

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derived that name ‘Chennaptam’ from one name Chennappa Nayankar who was the father-in-law of one Nayankar of Chengalpat who was a petty chieftain under one Chandragiri Raja. And this place on the coast was given possession by the Naynkars to the British and they constructed a fort around Chennapatnam. From all this the name ‘Madras’ came to be given to the then town of Madras, and later the name ‘Madras’ was extended to whole of Tamil country. 05-Dec-68; Shri Thillai Villalan; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha We are proud that at least today the name of Madras State be called by the name of Tamil Nadu, the State will not be called by the name of one city. For the past 15 years, the people of Tamil Nadu have wanted a name hallowed by their long history and the rich legacy of their language to be given to their State. 05-Dec-68; Shri Godey Murahari; Uttar Pradesh; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha The term ‘Tamil’ is not only a linguistic term; also it is a geographical and ethnical term. If we say that ‘Tamil’ is only the name of a particular language, it is erroneous; it is incorrect. The term ‘Tamil’ denotes the people and also the country. The name ‘Tamil Nadu’ was the original name. Only from the name of the land, the language has been called as Tamil. The land does not take the name from the language. 05-Dec-68; Shri Thillai Villalan; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha The honorary member is saying the opposite thing. Now the people reside at a place and speak a particular language, and the name of the place is derived from the language spoken in that place. You are saying the other way round. Why are you saying the other way round? 05-Dec-68; Shri N. Patra; Orissa; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha In literature, Tamil Nadu was originally described only by the surrounding places. Nowhere can we find that Tamil Nadu means the place where the people are all speaking Tamil. In the ancient Tamil literature, in Silappathikaram it is said: ‘Vediyon Kunramum Todiyon Valvamum Tamiz Vamparutta Tanpunal Nadu’. It means Tamil Nadu having Tirupati Hill and Kumari Sea as boundaries. In Manimekalai it is said: ‘Chembu Teevinan Tamizagamarunga’. It means Tamil Nadu which is to be found in the continent which is called ‘Sembuthevu’. In Padhirnupathu, it says: ‘Imiz Kadal Veli Tamizagam’. It means Tamil Nadu which has got sea as its boundary. Then, our Bharatiyar has said:

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‘Neela Tirai Kadlorattile Ninru Nittam Tavancheyum Kumari Ellai – Vada Malavan Kunram Ivarridaye Pugaz Mandikidakkum Taminznadu’. It means between Kumari which is doing ‘Tapas’ in the blue sea and hill of God, the glorious Tamil Nadu will be found. So, in literature we find it denotes the place of the people and it does not mean that Tamil Nadu is the name of the language only. So the question of linguistic minorities will not arise. It is definitely a name of the land which is ancient. There were people who spoke Telugu, Canarese and Malayalam. They were all in Tamil Nadu, but at different times and occasions they separated themselves. 05-Dec-68; Shri ThillaiVillalan; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha It just shows how these Dravidian languages are linked. After our independence and the redistribution of the States, many States have taken the names of their areas or their languages. Now, I did not know, until the Honourable Member said, that the Tamil language took the name of the place. 05-Dec-68; Shri M.H. Samuel; Andhra Pradesh; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha The decision to change the place name was about to be implemented when options for names other than Tamil Nadu emerged. Now they want to call it as Tamil Nadu. That means there are only Tamil people there. I want my Telugu areas to come back to Andhra. That is my request. I am not against Tamilnad. But I want my Telugu people in those areas to come over to my State. When you change the name, and when you call it Tamil Nadu, then you are calling the Telugu people living there, as Tamilians? 22-Nov-68; Shri Chengalraya Naidu; Andhra Pradesh; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha Our party has always raised a voice as to whether the name of Tamil Nadu should be Tamil Nadu or Tamilgam. We wanted that its name should be Tamilgam. 05-Dec-68; Shri Godey Murahari; Uttar Pradesh; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha Personally, I wish a historic name had been chosen, a name that would revive the memories among the modern Tamils of ancient glories of the Tamil country, of the great historical dynasties, the Cholas and the Pandyas. I would have preferred that the country of Tamil Nadu should have called ‘Chola-Pandya Nadu’. 05-Dec-68; Shri M. Ruthnaswamy; Madras; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha

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Finally, the name Tamil Nadu was agreed upon but not before a debate had been stirred up this time round about its spelling and phonetics. I would like to have a clarification whether the State Government wants to have the name as Tamil Nadu or as Tamizhagam. As soon as they came to power, they removed all the old name-boards containing the word ‘Tamil Nadu Government’ and replaced them with name-boards containing the word ‘Tamizhagam’. I would now request them to be clear as to whether they want to use the name Tamil Nadu or Tamizhagam? 22-Nov-68; Shri R.S. Arumugam Tenkasi; Madras; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha (Translated from Hindi) Mr Speaker, sometimes along with language the harmony of spoken words is also suitable – a requisite for names. If my brothers agree to it that instead of Nadu they keep Nad and instead of Tamil Nadu they keep the name of Madras as Tamil Nad, then the spoken word will have both harmony and glory. In between नाड and नाद, नाद is more suitable. 22-Nov-68; Shri Prakashveer Shastri; Uttar Pradesh; Independent; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha Why ‘Nadu’ and not ‘Nad’? 05-Dec-68; Shri Akbar Ali Khan; Andhra Pradesh; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha ‘Nadu’ is the proper term, which means the Tamil country, which means the Tamil State. 05-Dec-68; Shri Thillai Villalan; Madras; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha My honorable friend, is phonetically correct. There is, for example, the name Christiaan Barnard, the famous heart transplant surgeon. His ‘Christiaan’ has two ‘a’s. But if the Madras people are quite content with the one ‘a’, it is not for the Parliament to say that it should not have two ‘a’s. 05-Dec-68; Shri A.D. Mani; Madhya Pradesh; Independent; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha If Tamil Nadu says one ‘a’, Parliament can certainly say two ‘a’s, because that is double distinction. 05-Dec-68; Shri M.P. Bhargava; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha But that is in English. In Tamil it would be correct. 05-Dec-68; Shri M.N. Kaul; Nominated; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha

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In English we pronounce it as Tamil but actually it is Thamizh Nadu. I do not understand why the Madras Assembly did not make an effort to see that it is properly pronounced. Are they really interested in the culture and literature of this language or are they doing this just for the sake of changing the name? I am sorry he said Tamil Nadu; he should have said Thamizh Nadu. 05-Dec-68; Smt. Lalitha Rajagopalan; Madras; Congress; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha Unfortunately, the English language also cannot accommodate the letter ‘zha’ in Tamil. Even people studying in Northern India are not able to pronounce the letter ‘zha’ which is a peculiar Dravidian sound. We cannot accommodate ‘zh’ in English. 05-Dec-68; Shri A.D. Mani; Madhya Pradesh; Independent; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha It is there in ‘Thazhava’. 05-Dec-68; Shri Kesavan Thazhava; Kerela; Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI (M); Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha I have to say only one word about the use of (aa) in the name ‘Nadu’. There is no word in English with (aa). We have ‘ball’, ‘hall’, ‘hard’, ‘card’ etc. and all of them are with a single (a) and I do not know how the people will understand what this (aa) means. It should be removed. 05-Dec-68; Shri M. Ajmal Khan; Nominated; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha Keeping the argument in perspective, the Parliament agreed to the name Tamil Nadu. The Parliament has also debated place names for the foreign versus their indigenous roots. The foreign here included the English, Persian and the French words in the names.

Foreign versus indigenous name An issue that has rankled in the minds of parliamentarians, is that of using a foreign versus an indigenous nomenclature in the names of states and union territories. It is India’s history that has left its imprint in the form of different languages in its place names. The debate has been to salvage the indigenous versus the foreign words, but here also it is the feelings of people that are kept at the forefront of any decision.

English versus indigenous name Even after independence, English words continued to be a part and parcel of selected place names. This is most evident in the case of Nagaland. Some

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Parliamentarians made a claim that the word ‘land’ in Nagaland rhymed best with England, Scotland and Ireland and did not fall in line with India. Thus began the debate on the name Nagaland versus Naga Pradesh. This Act may be called the State of Nagaland that is, Naga Lima, Act 1962. That is as in the Constitution, failing that, it will read thus: ‘This Act may be called the State of Nagaland that is Naga Pradesh, Act, 1962’. On a point of order, this is irrelevant because we have already adopted Clause 3 of the Bill which reads thus: ‘As from the appointed day, there shall be formed a new State to be known as the State of Nagaland comprising the territories … ’. So, the State has already been named by us as Nagaland. So, to bring about some change in the title of the Bill alone would not, in my opinion, be proper. 29-Aug-62; Shri Hari Vishnu Kamath; Madhya Pradesh; Praja Socialist Party; Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 1962 and State of Nagaland Bill, 1962; Lok Sabha Frankly the Naga leaders were anxious to have the name Nagaland and we thought that it was best to please them in this matter when they attach so much importance to it. There was no particular reason against it and so we agreed, and I hope this House will agree. 03-Sep-62; Shri Jawaharlal Nehru; The Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 1962 and State of Nagaland Bill, 1962; Rajya Sabha I do not know why the alternative name of Naga Pradesh was not accepted. After all, Nagaland is something which sounds outlandish. It sounds like England, Scotland, Ireland, or something like that. At least as an alternative, according to the nomenclature that has been adopted in this country: we have got Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and so on – Naga Pradesh should have been accepted. I do not know why this is not accepted? 03-Sep-62; Shri Dahyabhai V. Patel; Gujarat; Not Available; Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 1962 and State of Nagaland Bill, 1962; Rajya Sabha Frankly, I would have preferred – not that I have any objection to Nagaland – Naga Pradesh. Sentiment is a strong thing and we did not think that we should by-pass or come in the way of that sentiment. Well, it did not make any difference and so we accepted Nagaland. 03-Sep-62; Shri Jawaharlal Nehru; The Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Bill, 1962 and State of Nagaland Bill, 1962; Rajya Sabha

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But the criticism and complaining about the English words in the name lingered, as is evident in the references made to this in the debates in 1968 and 1974. Also with respect to the States, we should not follow the tradition of English names since the age of slavery. We gave the name Nagaland. We could have easily called it Nagabhumi, Nagapradesh. 05-Dec-68; Shri Pitambar Das; Uttar Pradesh; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha We call Nagaland, Nagaland, giving it a foreign name. But if it had been named ‘Nagadesh’ it would have been much better. 05-Dec-68; Shri Godey Murahari; Uttar Pradesh; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Rajya Sabha Now, is Nagaland not our own? But we gave it an English name. You could have named it Nagabhumi, Naganadu, Nagapradesh. But no, you gave it an English name and it has been running ever since. There is nobody to ask. After all, name also has an importance. They all say: Preserving an identity, preserving an identity, what is preserving an identity, I do not understand. 04-Sep-74; Shri Jagannath Rao Joshi; Madhya Pradesh; Jan Sangh; Constitution (Thirty-sixth) Amendment Bill, 1974 – Sikkim; Lok Sabha In contrast to the relenting on the English name ‘land’ as a suffix to a name Nagaland, the parliamentarians adopted a firmer and more stubborn posture where a suffix in Persian was concerned. The debate on the name Punjab was fresh at the time of the partition of the Indian subcontinent. Both India and Pakistan continued keeping the same name, Punjab, even though the twins had been ripped apart!

Persian versus indigenous names Punjab is a Persian word where ‘panch’ means five and ‘ab’ means waters or rivers. Al-Biruni mentioned Panj or Banj, meaning five, in his description. One minister mentioned that ‘suba’ is an Urdu word. The case of Punjab versus Punjabi Suba was an interesting study in the light of this meaning. Pertinent to the case of Punjab versus Punjabi Suba was a question of a choice between the name of the region or its language. The following excerpts speak for themselves. Punjabi is a language and is listed in the 8th Schedule of our Constitution. What is the region where it is spoken? Punjabi was one of the languages in the Constitution and if North India was to be divided there must have been Punjabi Suba for the Punjabi region. 30-Jul-56; Sardar Hukum Singh; Patiala and East Punjab States; Akali; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha

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I would submit that we have already decided, for whatever reasons it may be, to form a Punjabi Suba. Let us go ahead with it with grace and confidence and with confidence in the people of Punjab. 06-Sep-66; Shri Homi F. Daji; Madhya Pradesh; Communist Party; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Lok Sabha I was very much interested that the people of Punjabi Suba or Punjab – I do not know by what name it is going to be called by the people of Punjab? 06-Sep-66; Shri Diwan Chand Sharma; Punjab; Congress; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Lok Sabha The entire movement has been in the name of the Punjabi Suba and I would request to change the name from Punjab State to Punjabi Suba. 09-Sep-66; Shri U.S. Dugal; Punjab; Not Available; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha It should be Punjab. 09-Sep-66; Shri Surjit Singh Atwal; Punjab; Congress; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha No, no. 09-Sep-66; Sardar Raghbir Singh; Patiala and East Punjab States Union; Congress; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha Maybe from your point of view. 09-Sep-66; Shri U. S. Dugal; Punjab, Not Available; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966, Rajya Sabha The Punjab has a history of 2,000 years behind it. How can we change it? This is a communal name. 09-Sep-66; Dr. Gopal Singh; Nominated; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha In 1947 when India was partitioned, at that time also, Master Tara Singh wanted a separate Suba for the Sikhs which he called the Punjabi Suba. 10-Sep-66; Prof. Satyavrata Siddhantalankar; Nominated; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha (Translated from Hindi) Why did he think it as important that the name should be Punjabi Suba and not Punjab. Rajasthan is a State, Kerala and Madras are States as well as Subas, so should all of their names be changed. All are Subas. They are called Subas in Urdu, Prant in Hindi and Province in English. Nobody should not have said such a thing. 10-Sep-66; Shri Jagganath Prasad Pahadia; Rajasthan; Not Available; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha

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Why call this new unit ‘Punjabi Suba’? Well, as a democracy, as a people we are free to change our names also in this country. If I say I want to change my name, I can change it. But why should Punjab become Punjabi Suba? It is asked, ‘How will it look if it were called Gujarati Suba or Marathi Suba or Bengali Suba’? Is there any Suba? There is no such Suba. Therefore, I think we should, let us, forget this altogether. 10-Sep-66; Shri Gulzarilal Nanda Sabarkantha; Gujarat; Congress; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha In clause 6, after Sub Clause (2), the following sub-clause be inserted, namely: On and from the appointed day, the name of the State of Punjab shall be ‘Punjabi Suba’. 10-Sep-66; The Deputy Chairman; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966; Rajya Sabha The motion was negated. Punjab was favoured as the name.

French versus indigenous name The debate in this category centred on the name Pondicherry versus Puducherry. Pondicherry was a part of the French dominion and it was merged with the Indian Union in 1954. It became a union territory on August 16, 1962, with the name listed as Pondicherry. The people of Pondicherry had been demanding the renaming of the Union Territory of Pondicherry to that of Puducherry. The Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry passed an official resolution to this effect on October 15, 1980, requesting the Government of India to pass the necessary legislation for altering the name of Pondicherry. The proposal was then approved by the Union Territory of Pondicherry. The Government of Pondicherry on July 30, 1996 reiterated their request for changing the name of Pondicherry to Puducherry and forwarded the proposal to the Government of India for approval. The Chief Minister of Pondicherry, in his letter dated April 29, 1999, again reiterated the proposal. The Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill came to the House of Parliament in 2006. It took 44 years, from 1962, for a French aberration in a place name in India to acquire its indigenous form. What follows are the arguments for this change of name in the House of Parliament. Originally Pondicherry was called ‘Puducherry’. The French were not able to pronounce the word ‘Puducherry’. So they changed it into ‘Pondicherry’. ‘Puducherry’ has a meaning. With the exception of a few educated people, the rest of the people there even now call that place ‘Puducherry’ and not ‘Pondicherry’. Even now in the railway station on the board you will find ‘Pondicherry’ in English and ‘Puducherry’ in Tamil. On the buses also you

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will find ‘Puducherry’ in Tamil. Time has come, though not today but in the near future, that the name must be changed. 07-Sep-62; Shri J. S. Pillai; Madras; Not Available; The Constitution Fourteenth Ammendment Bill, 1962; Rajya Sabha ‘Puducherry’, in our local language, Tamil language, means ‘new colony’. ‘Pudu’ means ‘new’ and ‘cherry’ means ‘colony’. 21-Aug-06; Shri V. Naryanaswmay; Pondicherry; Congress; Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Rajya Sabha In Tamil it is always Puducherry. When French people wrote it, it is said, they spelt ‘Pudu’ as ‘Poudu’. After that, it was misspelt and the third letter ‘u’ was inverted as ‘n’ and it became Ponducherry and later, it was called as Pondicherry. This is how the name changed. 21-Aug-06; Shri R. Shunmugasundaram; Tamil Nadu; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK); Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Rajya Sabha Sir, I should explain the rationale as to why we are asking for the change in the name. We are taking corrective measures to a mistake committed in the history. 24-Aug-06; Prof. M. Ramadass; Pondicherry; Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK); Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Lok Sabha Through the adoption of this Bill, the ancient Tamil name Puducherry is being restored. 24-Aug-06; Shri Gingee N. Ramachandran Vandavasi; Tamil Nadu; Not Available; Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Lok Sabha The bill was passed and the name of the Union Territory was changed to Puducherry, while its capital still retains the name Pondicherry.

Multiple versus single names In some cases, multiple names of a subnational unit were changed into a single name. The idea was to ensure a sense of cohesion among the constituent parts. The new name functions as a unifier. Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands were formed as a union territory at the time of the Reorganisation of the States in 1956. Earlier, these were a part of the state of Madras. Some of the islands were administered through the collector of Malabar district and others through the collector of South Canara district. The groups of islands under the jurisdiction of the Malabar collector were known as the Laccadive and Minicoy Islands while the other group, under the jurisdiction of the

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South Canara collector, was called the Amindivi Islands. On acquiring the status of a union territory, it got the name Laccadivi, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands, which was a collective of the names of all three groups. Over the years it was realized that these islands have acquired a sense of oneness and there was every reason to give them the single name of Lakshadweep. A proposal to this effect was tabled as the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973. A question that can be raised is that why the group is named Lakshadweep and not Laccadivi or Minicoy or Amindivi? These alternative names did not even figure in discussion on the issue. What emerges are reasons aimed at justifying the change from the previous one to Lakshadweep. There are indications that in ancient times also these Islands were known by the name of ‘Lakshadweep’, meaning a hundred thousand islands. The present name ‘Laccadive …’ which survives in respect of only one group of islands seems to be an Anglicised version of the old name. 30-Jul-73; Shri K.C. Pant; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha Lakshadweep is called by the same name in Sanskrit and Malayalam and I am happy that this name is not being forced anyhow. 30-Jul-73; Shri Chandrajeet Yadav; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha The new name carries a meaning which is of significance, that is, it is the island of goal (lakshya), which reminds us that we are to reach our goal – socialism – with care and caution. 08-Aug-73; Shri Nabin Chandra Buragohain; Assam; Congress; Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Rajya Sabha I would like to remind that the name ‘Lakshadweep’ has been the only name which the people of these islands have been continuously using for ages. Lakshadweep is the name which is used by the people. 08-Aug-73; Dr. K. Mathew Kurian; Kerela; Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI (M); Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Rajya Sabha

Inclusive versus exclusive names A debate on the need for inclusive versus exclusive names is largely focused on the use of prefixes such as maha or great, samyukut or united, and vishal or vast. A case in point is Maharashtra. It carries ‘maha’, big as its prefix and ‘rashtra’ as its

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main component. Here is the debate, which in addition to Maharashtra, ropes in states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab. There were demands for a Punjabi-speaking province, for a HarianaPrant, and for a greater Himachal Pradesh. There was also the demand that all these States should be tagged together, and a Maha Punjab should be formed. 02-Aug-56; Shri Bahadur Singh; Punjab; Akali; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha Prime Minister wants five big composite States in this country. Paschim Pradesh consists of nothing else than Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bombay city. 02-Aug-56; Shri Tulsidas Kilachand; Bombay; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha The name Maharashtra, if we try to look at this subject objectively, then the question arises are we ready to call every province rashtra-nation. There is only one nation and that is our Bharat Desh. If Maharashtra is formed, Gurjar Rashtra is formed as it was called earlier, Bang Rashtra is formed, Kalinga Rashtra is formed, then what is left? We should also see to it that our Nation comes first and then Pradesh. 01-Apr-60; Smt. Jayaben Shah; Bombay; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha Objection ‘Maharashtra’ means a big nation. How can a big nation be a part of the India Union? The Indian Union itself is a nation. 19-Apr-60; Shri Murigappa Siddappa Sugandhi; Mysore; Independent; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha Is the country composed of different nations? 19-Apr-60; Shri Purushottamdas Rachhoddas Patel; Bombay; Mahagujarat Janata Parishad; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha The people have the sentiment that Gujarat State should be called Mahagujarat. The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee also in their resolution mentioned that if the Gujarat State is formed, it should be named as Mahagujarat. 19-Apr-60; Shri Motisinh Bahadursinh Tahkore; Bombay; Mahagujarat Janata Parishad; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha When the agitation was started it was in the name of Samyukta Maharashtra. Vidarbha and Marathwada are not Maharashtra; they are being joined to Maharashtra and in order to indicate that and to recognize the special existence also call this territory as Samyukta Maharashtra. The change of

176  Democratization of place names

name to Maharashtra and not keeping it Samyukta Maharashtra indicates a kind of mentality that is behind this movement. 19-Apr-60; Dr. Madhav ShrihariAney; Bombay; Independent; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha This particular State should not be called Maharashtra because, according to them, Maharashtra means a big rashtra. That seems to be a very extraordinary argument. From the mere fact that you attach a prefix ‘maha’ to ‘rashtra’, it does not follow that the entity to which this prefix is added is more than the rashtra? 23-Apr-60; Dr. W.S. Barlinagy; Bombay; Congress; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Rajya Sabha There are some Maharajas who are smaller than Rajas. 23-Apr-60; Shri Bhupesh Gupta; West Bengal; Communist Party of India; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha Exactly, I will give another instance. Take for instance the word pradesh. Just because the prefix ‘pra’ is attached to the word ‘desh’ pradesh does not become something bigger than desh. In the same way, Maharashtra does not become greater than rashtra. This term has become a more technical term and it does not mean that it is greater than rashtra. Marathi is derived from Maharashtra. It is only a species of a linguistic expression, nothing more than that. 23-Apr-60; Dr. W.S. Barlinagy; Bombay; Congress; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha That is, Maha Pandit is not greater than Pandit. 23-Apr-60; Shri Jaspat Roy Kapoor; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Bombay Reorganisation Bill, 1960; Lok Sabha What is being called Uttar Pradesh today was once called Samyukta Prant – United Provinces of Agra and Awadh. 05-Dec-68; Shri Pitambar Das; Uttar Pradesh; Not Available; Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1968; Lok Sabha (Translated from Hindi) I want that the size and area of border states should be increased. I want that Himachal Pradesh should be increased in size and Jammu Kashmir should be merged with it to make a Vishal Himachal Pradesh. 15-Dec-70; Shri Prakash Vir Shastri; Uttar Pradesh; Independent; The State of Himachal Pradesh Bill, 1970; Lok Sabha In 1956 the States were reorganised, then Bombay-Karnataka HyderabadKarnataka and Madras-Karnataka were brought together and the dream

Democratization of place names  177

of the Kannada speaking people to have a Vishal Kannada Nadu came to be realised. 27-Jul-73; Shri Sidrameshwar Swamy Bassayya; Mysore; Congress; Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha The first martyr for the linguistic reorganization was Potti Sreeramulu of Andhra Pradesh who called for Vishal Andhra. 20-Feb-14; Shri Sitaram Yechury; West Bengal; Communist Party of India (Marxist); Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014; Rajya Sabha The suffixes to place names like maha, vishal, samyukt, unitedly reflect the vision of the earlier leaders who were trying to give a consolidated shape and appearance to the map of India. Large territorial units to them were symbols of security and unity of India. A reference below should be of interest. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in his speech at a public meeting at Alwar on February 25, 1948 said: ‘Small states cannot subsist as independent entities any longer without endangering Indian unity … They have also to realise their destiny in the present scheme of things in the country. They can only play their true and honoured part by merging themselves in bigger and more sizeable entities. The watch word of India should be unity’. In another public meeting, held four months earlier at Patiala on October 22, 1947, he said: This is not the time to involve ourselves in needless disputes, nor can we ever afford to follow the mirage of many ‘stans’ like Khalistans and Sikhistans or Jatistans. If we are not careful and become a prey to these inimical ideals, we can only succeed in turning India into a pagalistan (land of lunatics). (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, 1967)

Prevalent versus popular names At times a choice is to be made between a name that exists officially and is functional and another that is in popular use. This is true in at least two cases. One refers to Uttaranchal versus Uttrakhand and the other is pertinent to Orissa and Odisha. In both cases, the popular name ultimately prevailed.

Uttaranchal versus Uttarakhand The Lok Sabha discussed the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000 on August 1, 2000. One point of contention was the appropriate name to be given to new state that was being carved out of the parent state. Four alternative names came up for discussion. These were Uttaranchal, Uttarakhand, Greater Uttaranchal and Uttaranchal Pradesh. The debate on the names lasted for precisely 5 hours and 48 minutes. Of these, Uttaranchal and Uttarakhand emerged as the main

178  Democratization of place names

contenders, with the former being referred to 182 times and the latter 174 times. The new state was thus christened as Uttaranchal. That was in the year 2000. To change the name of the state from Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand, another bill was placed before the Parliament in 2006. Of course, the ‘politics’ between the two successive ruling parties is held responsible for this flip-over. The name Uttaranchal was kept when the Bharatiya Janta Party was in power and, in fact, they had accorded statehood to the region. But the name Uttarakhand was substituted when the Indian National Congress came to power. In a short span of six years the name was changed. Such a swift change had not been seen by Parliament in previous years. The explanations make a worthy read. Here are the excerpts: I talked to Shri Advani some time back and asked, ‘Why do you not keep it as Uttarakhand?’ He gave a very logical reason. He said, ‘“Khand” means “Khand” (segment) and “Anchal” means “within”. So, Uttarakhand gives a wrong meaning, and Uttaranchal gives a correct meaning’. That is why, I did not persist with the word, ‘Uttarakhand’. Let it be as Uttaranchal and not as Uttarakhand. 01-Aug-00; Shri Manabendra Shah; Uttarakhand; BJP; Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000, Lok Sabha I want to say that the name of Uttarakhand in this State Reorganisation Bill has been changed to Uttaranchal. In historical, religious, and Puranic contexts its name has been Uttarakhand. The mass struggle has been in the name of Uttarakhand. All the major names of the Uttarakhand struggle have suffered on this name as well as all the martyrs have given their life on this name only. The name of Uttarakhand has a popular resonance among the masses. The name has a feeling among the people. Hence I request that the name which instils a notion of happy feeling and love and relation among the people with their land should not be changed. It would have been better if the name was Uttarakhand. 10-Aug-00; Shrimati Saroj Dubey; Bihar; Rashtriya Janata Dal; Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000, Rajya Sabha Now, the change of name is being done on the basis of mythology and history. Significantly, the word ‘political’ is missing. Now, during these six years what is the historical and mythological change that has taken place? I can understand if you had used the word ‘political’. Then, it is all right. It was not used. What is the logic? Has any historical development taken place? Has any mythology come into existence within this period of six years? We were the very same persons who passed that Bill in 2000 giving the name of Uttaranchal to the new State. Now we are asked to pass another Bill to give a new name Uttarakhand to that State. That is why, at the outset I said that significantly the word ‘political’ is missing from the

Democratization of place names  179

statement of objects and reasons of this Bill. So, I request the Government to please come up with some principle. 05-Dec-06; Shri Varkala Radhakrishnan Chirayinkil; Kerela; CPI (M); Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Lok Sabha It is the desire of the people that their State is called in terms of how the State is referred to; in terms of their culture; in terms of their scripture; in terms of their identity; in terms of how they relate to their land and that is, in terms of Uttarakhand. Uttaranchal was a nomenclature that was coined much later in terms of diverting the agitation to a different aspiration. I would also like to mention with regard to this conversation that if we call it Uttarakhand, then the aspirations of the Kumaon region perhaps would not be adequately reflected. The agitation for the creation of Uttarakhand was a movement of the people in the entire State, Garhwal Himalayas as well as in the Kumaon Himalayas. There was never a conversation that these are two different people. 05-Dec-06; Shri Francis Fanthome; Nomintaed; NCT of Delhi; Congress; Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006; Lok Sabha The movement was in the name of Uttarakhand, not Uttaranchal. Sir, the people there kept the name Uttaranchal and because it was once passed by the Lok Sabha, therefore, it came to be known as Uttaranchal. Therefore, to divert attention from the elections, this card of Uttarakhand has been played. Let it remain Uttaranchal. 07-Dec-06; Shri Satyavrat Chatturvedi; Madhya Pradesh; Congress; Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006, Rajya Sabha A plot is being played with the feelings of the people, to change the name of Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand. The legislative assembly of Uttar Pradesh also passed the bill in the name of Uttaranchal. The movement was carried out in the name of Uttaranchal. I was associated with this movement. As far as the question of Uttarakhand is concerned, a particular region is named as Uttarakhand. The whole of Uttaranchal, whether it be Kumaon or Garhwal, come together as Uttaranchal. Today, all of a sudden why is there a demand for Uttarakhand? In between no voices were raised to make Uttarakhand. After considering all points, it was decided that Kumaon and Garhwal together should be given a name, and since it is Uttranchal, therefore it be called as Uttaranchal. It is in contiguity with Himachal, it is ‘anchal’. Today, suddenly a bill has been passed to alter its name and the same is now placed before the House after being passed by the Lok Sabha. I think the feelings of the people of Uttaranchal are being played with and pure politics is being played. Therefore, I oppose it. 07-Dec-06; Shri Kalraj Mishra; Uttar Pradesh; Bharatiya Janata Party; Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006, Rajya Sabha

180  Democratization of place names

I support the Bill to alter the name of Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand. I think this topic is being made heavy, the kind of politics that is being talked about, there is nothing like that. BJP has affinity with ‘anchal’. You were right; they wanted to name Jharkhand as Vananchal. In my opinion, there is no need for such opposition. 07-Dec-06; Prof. Ram Deo Bhandary; Bihar; Rashtriya Janata Dal; Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006, Rajya Sabha The name ‘Uttarakhand’ is very popular in history as well as in mythology. We have studied in history the names of Bundelkhand, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. In Tamil epic Kambaramayanam, Uttarakhandam is very often pronounced. Therefore, Uttarakhand is not only mythological but also historical. It is not the alteration of the name. I would like to say that it is the reversion of the old name into the present day. By accepting this one, the Central Government has maintained the federal structure and honoured the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Uttarakhand. 05-Dec-06; Prof. P. M. Kader Mohideen; Tamil Nadu; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006, Lok Sabha

Orissa versus Odisha Orissa is the English form of the Oriya word ‘odisa’. The word has come from Odra. References to the people called the Odras and their territory, the Odra country, are found in a number of literary works of the ancient period. This is another case where, in 2010, to conform to popular usage, it was sought to change the state name of Orissa, which had been officially prevalent since 1936. The basic argument was that this was the particular way in which it was addressed by the people. The details of the debate on this issue follow as: After 75 years, the name of Orissa is being changed to the actual pronunciation which we do in Odisha. 09-Nov-10; Shri B. Mahtab; Odisha; Biju Janata Dal; The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Lok Sabha A name should be written as we pronounce it, phonetically. The English spelling is wrong. It should be Odissa or, as we pronounce, Odissi and it should be written accordingly. Here I would like to draw the attention to one thing that it goes with ‘sh’ Talvesa. In Orissa, we write talvesa. Accordingly, the logic being put forth is that talvesa should be spelled in English as ‘sh’. In Oriya, it is Talvesa and in English, it would have been better to retain only‘s’ instead of ‘sh’. How the spelling of Talvesa, Dantesa and Mudhnwesa should be written in English which has only‘s’. As we go south, the ‘da’ as in Vijaywada is written as ‘da’, and as we travel

Democratization of place names  181

north, the ‘da’ is ‘rh’ as in Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, etc. It is not the same. In pan-Indian, proper-noun or name is not spelt as we pronounce it. There are letters between Mr. Rajagopalachari and Pandit Nehru on how to spell Delhi. Should it be ‘Delhi’ or should it be ‘Dilli’? How do we spell it? 09-Nov-10; Shri B. Mahtab; Odisha; Biju Janata Dal; The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Lok Sabha ‘Odisha’ stands for the people of the State called the ‘Odias’. 09-Nov-10; Dr. Prasanna Kumar Patasani; Orissa; Biju Janata Dal; The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Lok Sabha The name of this State called Orissa, has been named in many ways. It was Udra; it was Kalinga; and it was Utkal, which is there in the National Anthem. I think, let us have Utkal as its name. 09-Nov-10; Shri B. Mahtab; Odisha; Biju Janata Dal; The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Lok Sabha The word Orissa was created by the people who fought to make it a separate State based on language and who also thought that the pride of Orissa, the land, the people, the beauty, the religious factors, everything put together could best be symbolized by six letters. Those who know numerical values of letters will understand that Orissa spelt success, meant good health, meant well-being, and meant mental balance numerology-wise. Orissa has the lyrical value which Odisha does not have. It is not a question of spelling; it is a question of pronunciation. We all know that in Orissa, we always say, we are Oriya; we do not say we are Odiya; we do not say that my State is Odisha. It is not the pronunciation of the local people. 09-Nov-10; Shri Tathagata Satpathy; Odisha; Biju Janata Dal; The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010; Lok Sabha It is an ancient land which finds mention in the ‘Natya Sastra’ of sage Bharata written in 2nd century A.D. Later in the 15th century eminent poet Sarala Das too mentions ‘Udra’ in his Mahabharata. From Udra the word Odia and Odisha were derived. In 1936, when Odisha became a separate province the name Odisha was changed into Orissa merely because it was convenient for the British to write in English. The name ‘Orissa’ has no historic or Constitutional basis. On the contrary Odisha or Udra has a cultural connect with the past. 24-Mar-11; Shri Rama Chandra Khuntia; Orissa; Congress; Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2010, Rajya Sabha

182  Democratization of place names

The parliamentarians settled on the alteration of the spellings of the name from Orissa to Odisha on the basis of phonetics and the popular demand of the people of the state. In certain cases, the reasons for choosing and changing a name is difficult to decipher. Here is an illustration. While hoisting the national flag on August 15, 2000, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Today I extend my felicitations to the people of the three new states that they have found their place on the map of India … We are confident that the new states of Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand will soon earn their rightful place in the Union of India. The demand for a Jharkhand state began in 1916 when a tribal group of Christians banded together to form the Chota Nagpur Improvement Society to work for the preservation of their identity. The region had been known by various names in the past, such as Dasharn, Kikat, and Jharkhand. The word Jharkhand was in use in olden days and also during the Mughal days. The movement for retaining this name was carried by tribal people. There was a slow gradual change in the characteristics of the movement from an ethnic party to a regional party. Jharkhand Band was organised on September 15, 1992. and then was born the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council. Its demand for statehood was fulfilled when The Bihar State Reorganisation Bill, 2000 was tabled in the House of Parliament. In the Bill that was debated in the Lok Sabha for 6 hours 47 minutes, the members of the Parliament referred to a ‘name’ 404 times (see Table 8.2). The word had three versions: Jharkhand, Vananchal and Greater Jharkhand. Seeming almost indifferent to what the name could or should be, Mulayam Singh Yadav, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said: I have held the view to divide Bihar in two parts, one is Vananchal or Jharkhand and another is Bihar; right … This is not the first time when we are separating. Bihar was once a part of Bengal, we were a part of Bengal and in 1912 when this House had even not been constructed Bihar and Orissa had been carved out of Bengal. After that, Bihar and Orissa were also divided in 1936. Today when Jharkhand has been separated from Bihar in 2000, we welcome it. A rather dissatisfied Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party added: So far as the question of Greater Jharkhand comprising of two districts from Bengal, four districts from Madhya Pradesh, two – three districts of Orissa and 17 to 18 districts of Bihar is concerned, it should be created on the basis of this formula only. As the real Jharkhand was not being carved out, your party named it Vananchal.

Democratization of place names  183 TABLE 8.2 Lok Sabha debates over state names

State

Title of the Bill

Variants of name

Duration of debate

Jharkhand

Bihar Reorganisation Bill, 2000

6 hours and 47 minutes

Uttarakhand

The Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000

Chhattisgarh

Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000

Jharkhand (377*) Vananchal (26) Greater Jharkhand (1) Uttaranchal (182) Uttarakhand (174) Greater Uttaranchal (6) Uttaranchal Pradesh (2) Chhattisgarh (264) Chhatisgarhi (4) Chhattisgarh Anchal (2) ChaubisGarh (1) Barahgarh (2)

5 hours and 58 minutes

3 hours and 20 minutes

(*) Number of times the name was mentioned. Source: Collected from Lok Sabha Debate, Central Secretariat, Parliament House, New Delhi.

The Lok Sabha had met a day earlier to decide the case of Chhattisgarh. In the 3-hour 20-minute debate, four different names emerged for this state. These were Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh Anchal, Chaubisgarh and Barahgarh. Chattisgarh was the most frequently mentioned, at 269 times. This name was finally adopted.

Not all demands for a name change were met: The case of Assam, West Bengal and Sindh The Assam Assembly on December 15, 2006 resolved that a move to change the name of the state from Assam to Asom be effected. The plea for a change was backed by a historical explanation that Assam is associated with the Ahom kingdom established by the Shan dynasty in the thirteenth century. The Ahom rule lasted for 600 years and continued until the nineteenth century. The epithet Asam, or invincible, applied to the Shan conquerors was subsequently transferred to the country over which they ruled. The name Āsām ultimately took the Sanskritized form of Asama, meaning ‘unequalled, peerless or uneven’. On taking control of the region, the British Anglicized this name to Assam. The demand for rolling back to Asom was seen as the revival of a historical heritage. The decision on this change of name is, however, still pending. The demand for the change of name of West Bengal to Bengal has also not yet been adopted. Just read the argument on this issue in the Parliament by an honourable member. Sir, as far as West Bengal is concerned, why should it be called West Bengal? The West Bengal Assembly had also passed a Resolution for changing their name as Bangla. If the Resolution passed by the Assembly of a particular

184  Democratization of place names

State is the criteria for changing the name of a State, then you will have to follow the Resolution passed by the West Bengal Assembly for converting that State’s name into Bangla. You change the name of West Bengal as Bangla. I can understand that because East Bengal has become an independent nation now with a new name Bangladesh. But still the name of West Bengal is retained. So, there is no logic behind this. 05-Dec-06; Shri Varkala Radhakrishnan Chirayinkil; Kerala; CPI (M); Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2006, Lok Sabha Still another case of allegiance to a name is that of Sindh. In 2005, there were calls to delete the word ‘Sindh’ from the national anthem and substitute it with the word ‘Kashmir’. The argument was that Sindh was a territory that went to Pakistan with the partition of the continent in 1947. The opponents of this proposal held that the word ‘Sindh’ refers to Indus and to Sindhi culture and to people who constitute an integral part of India’s cultural fabric. The Supreme Court of India refused to tamper with the national anthem and so the word and name remains unchanged. The years following independence were eventful for India, as the country needed to consolidate itself and work towards a sustained unity. Meanwhile, several of the big amalgamated states started yearning for reorganisation. Demands were repeatedly raised for their division and for the formation of new states. These kinds of aggressive demands compelled the government to divide some of the existing states, namely Bombay (1960), Punjab (1966) and Assam (1963, 1970 and 1972) by creating Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. While Nagaland and Mizoram were created with only one Hill District each, Meghalaya had just two Hill Districts in its share. In the same way, when any Bill is presented in Parliament, be it for state formation, reorganization or alteration of the name, the parliamentarians will find an opportunity to also speak about the need for additional states. The debates are flushed with repeated, persuasive and, at times, aggressive demands for the formation of new states. To keep India united we may have to give way to a ‘New’ United States of India. How many more states would India have? Who are these aspirant states? What is the underlying process that is bringing these aspirant states to the forefront? What are the interpretations of the names of these aspirant states? How will these forces shape and remake the future place-name map of India? The next chapter makes an attempt to bring to light answers to these questions.

Year

1953 1956

1960 1961

1962

1962

1966 1970 1971

1974

S. No.

1 2

3 4

5

6

7 8 9

10

Constitution (Thirty-sixth Amendment) Bill

Bombay Reorganisation Bill Dadra and Nagar Haveli Bill, The Constitution (Tenth Amendment) Bill Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Bill and State of Nagaland Bill Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Bill Punjab Reorganisation Bill State of Himachal Pradesh Bill North Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Bill

The Andhra State Bill States Reorganisation Bill

Bill

September 4

September 6 December 15 December 14–15

September 4

August 29

August 10–26 April 23, April 26, July 26–28, July 30–31, August 1–3, August 7–10 April 1, April 19 August 17

Lok Sabha

Dates of debate in

TABLE 8.A.1 Bills for states’ reorganization and new states

September 7

September 9–10 December 17 December 21

September 7

September 3

April 23 August 16

August 31–September 12 April 30, May 1–2, August 16–17, August 20, August 22–23

Rajya Sabha

(Continued)

Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh States – Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, UTs – Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh Sikkim

Pondicherry

Nagaland

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu Maharashtra, Gujarat Dadra and Nagar Haveli

States’ names discussed 

Appendix 8.A: Bills tabled in the Parliament for states’ reorganization and alteration of names

1986

1986

1987

2000

2000

2000 2014

11

12

13

14

15

16 17

Constitution (Fifty-third Amendment) Bill and State of Mizoram Bill Constitution (Fifty-fifth Amendment) Bill and State of Arunachal Pradesh Bill The Goa, Daman and Diu Reorganisation Bill The Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Bill The Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill The Bihar Reorganisation Bill The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill

Bill

Source: Compiled by author.

Year

S. No.

TABLE 8.A.1 Continued

August 2 February 18

August 1

July 25, July 31

May 11

August 10–11 February 20

August 10

August 9

May 12

December 9

August 7

August 5

December 8

Rajya Sabha

Lok Sabha

Dates of debate in

Jharkhand Telangana

Uttaranchal

Chhatisgarh

Goa, Daman and Diu

Arunachal Pradesh

Mizoram

States’ names discussed 

1968 1973 1973

2006 2006 2010

1 2 3

4 5 6

Source: Compiled by author.

Year

S. No.

Madras State (Alteration of Name) Bill Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Alteration of Name) Bill Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Bill Uttaranchal (Alteration of Name) Bill The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill

Bill

TABLE 8.A.2 Bills for alternation of names of existing states

August 24 December 5 November 9

November 21–22 July 27 July 30

Lok Sabha

Dates of Debate in

August 21 December 7 March 24 (2011)

December 5 August 8 August 8

Rajya Sabha

Puducherry Uttarakhand Odisha

Tamil Nadu Karnataka Lakshadweep

States names discussed (Present Name)

9 PLACENISM AND FUTURE PLACE NAMES

There is no principle or rule that can indicate the optimal number of viable subnational units for a country. Yet to gain some insight into numbers, a parallel could be drawn between India and countries of comparable size and population. ‘If United States of America can have 50 states what is wrong with India having 30 or 50 states?’ This was voiced by P.A. Sangma, during the Parliament Debate on August 1, 2000 over the Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Bill. Sangma was the Speaker of Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. The United States of America was initially born as a confederation of 13 states located between the Atlantic Seaboard and the Mississippi River. Through a process that involved acquisition, or accession of new territories and even purchase of some others, the country was able to enlarge its territorial extent. This meant an addition of 37 states over time, making the present total of 50 now. Symbolic of this are the 50 stars embossed on the national flag of the United States of America. Russia occupies 3.35 percent of the earth’s surface, and is organized into 85 subnational units. For the United States of America, which covers 1.93 percent of the area, the number is 50. The comparable figure for China, with 1.88 percent of area, is 33. India, with 0.64 percent of the area, has 36 subnational units. Evidently, the average area size of a subnational unit in India is smaller than that in other large countries like Russia, the United States and China. An additional insight is gained when the number of subnational units is seen vis-á-vis the population of a country. Russia, which has 1.93 percent of the world’s population, has 85 subnational units; the United States of America, which accounts for 4.36 percent of the world’s population, has 50 units; China , with 18.67 percent of the world’s population, has only 33 units and India has 17.85 percent of the world’s population distributed among its 36 subnational units. The average population size of a subnational unit is 36.86 million in India, 41.84 million in China, 6.48 million in the United States of America and only

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1.69 million in Russia. It signifies that while the population size of a subnational unit in India is somewhat smaller than in China, it is much larger than in Russia or the United States. The demographic size of several Indian states is larger than that of many countries. Uttar Pradesh is more populous than Russia, Bihar more than Germany and West Bengal more than France. It is no surprise that a suggestion is frequently made that India should be carved into a larger number of states to facilitate efficient administration and faster development. Even when the State Reorganisation Commission in 1956 had frozen the number of states, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, ‘did suggest that the too unwieldy states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh call for a division’. He proposed that Uttar Pradesh be divided into three states, and Bihar and Madhya Pradesh into two states each (Ambedkar, 1955). Had his advice been heeded, India would have had 18 states in the place of the 14 that the States Reorganisation Commission had recommended.

Clamour for new states In India, the demand for more states comes to the forefront every so often. Here are some excerpts, arranged chronologically from 1956 to 2014, taken from the debates in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, to illustrate this point. It is selfevident that such demands are unrelenting Why Vindhya Pradesh can’t be kept as a separate State, when you are making small States like Kerala, Himachal Pradesh? 01-Aug-56; Sardar Raj Bhanu Singh Tewari; Vindhya Pradesh; Congress; States Reorganisation Bill, 1956; Lok Sabha The Gujarat people want three areas, a State of Gujarat, a Union Territory of Kutch and a State of Saurashtra. 06-Sep-66; Shri Diwan Chand Sharma; Punjab; Congress; Punjab Reorganisation Bill, 1966 Lok Sabha Braj and Awadh are separate regions in Uttar Pradesh. They can both become good States and in this way their development can be ensured. 15-Dec-70; Shri Balraj Madhok; NCT of Delhi; Jan Sangh; State of Himachal Pradesh Bill, 1970; Lok Sabha I want that all small states should be made out of big States. A state should be made out of Bundelkhand. The districts of Bihar where Bhojpuri is spoken should be merged to form one big State. Delhi should be merged with Haryana after removing New Delhi. 15-Dec-70; Shri Swami Brahmanand Ji; Uttar Pradesh; Jan Sangh; State of Himachal Pradesh Bill, 1970; Lok Sabha

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Why should there be objection to the creation of a separate State of Mithila? The people in Bihar also want their old name. With regard to Uttar Pradesh, it comprises of the ancient land of Lord Krishna, namely Braj, and the ancient land of Lord Rama, namely Oudh. Certainly, people want that these two areas should be given their original names and constituted into two separate States. 27-Jul-73; Shri Birendra Singh Rao; Haryana; Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP); Mysore State (Alteration of Name) Bill, 1973; Lok Sabha There are some parts in the North-East demanding the creation of more new States. There is also one Karbi Anglong district. The people of Karbi Anglong are demanding a new State. There is demand for Gorkhaland, Bodoland, and many others. If the West Bengal Vidhan Sabha passes a resolution that Gorkhaland be created then why not? 31-Jul-00; Shri Baju Ban Riyan; Tripura, Communist Party of India; Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000; Lok Sabha Is it not that the demand of Purvanchal Pradesh is being raised? Is it not that the demand for Awadh State and also Ruhelkhand and Bundelkhand has not been raised? 10-Aug-00; Shri Khan Gufran Zahidi; Uttar Pradesh; Congress; Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000; Rajya Sabha Around 100 MLAs and 22 MPs are asking for the state of Paschimanchal. The voice for Purvanchal is being raised also for Bundelkhand. Voices from Maharashtra, Bodoland and Gorkhaland are being raised. 10-Aug-00; Shrimati Saroj Dubey; Bihar; Rashtriya Janata Dal; Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2000; Rajya Sabha I also do appeal to you all to extend your un-equivocal support to the people of Bodoland area in the matter of getting their Statehood demand granted. 18-Feb-14; Shri Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary; Assam; Bodoland People’s Front; Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014; Lok Sabha There has thus been an unceasing demand for carving out new states in India. The reasons are twofold. One is rooted in the ethnic diversity of India and the other originates in the regional disparity of India.

Ethnic diversity and aspirational states Characterized by innumerable languages, religions, castes and tribes, India is a land of immense diversity in terms of its human geography. About 19,569 languages are spoken in the country, of which 121 have more than 10,000 speakers each (Census of India 2011, 2018). As per the Census of India 2011 (2018),

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14 languages have over 10 million speakers each. There are 4,635 castes and communities as listed by the Anthropological Survey of India. Besides six major religions as recognized by the Census of India, there are scores of other minor religions and hundreds of tribal persuasions. Several of these diverse groups are desirous of asserting their identity through the formation of new states. They believe that their distinctiveness can be best preserved within a separate politically defined territory. The demand for the state of Magadha in north Bihar is rooted in the Maithili language. Similar claim is made for Angika, a language whose speakers span contiguous parts of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. There is the demand for Bhilkhand by a tribal group that is concentrated in neighbouring pockets of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The state of Jammu and Kashmir is physically, culturally, religiously and linguistically divisible into the three distinct regions of the Kashmir Valley, Jammu and Ladakh. An occasional demand for its threefold division should not surprise one. A demand for Gondwanaland, which is marked by concentration of tribal population in the north-eastern part of the Deccan Peninsula, is based on still another consideration of ethnic background.

Regional disparity and aspirational states India today is a collage of relatively developed, developing and many underdeveloped regions. An ever-widening gap between the more advanced and the backward regions is also evident. The current demands for statehood in India are primarily motivated by the sluggish development in areas as well as the perceived sense of exploitation by developed regions of underdeveloped areas within the state. Economic grievances in terms of discrimination and neglect, combined with a loss of distinct identity, are invariably raised as the rationale for a separate state. Here are some instances. A sense of deprivation pervades the Rayalaseema region following the non-fulfilment of promises of development made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014. The people of Karbi Anglong complain that they have been kept out of Assam’s mainstream. The main reasons underlying the demand of statehood for Bodoland are the assertion of Bodo identity, encroachment on their land by Bangladesh immigrants in large numbers and unemployment among the youth. The Saurashtra Sankalan Samiti highlights that, compared to other parts of Gujarat, Saurashtra has been left far behind in development. Only a separate political status can correct this situation. The same is the argument of the Kutch region of Gujarat for being carved out as a separate state. The distinct culture and language of Kutch are adduced as an additional factor. The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha justified statehood for Tulunadu out of Karnataka in the name of better governance and faster development. Likewise, Vidharbha in Maharashtra seeks statehood on the basis of its separate political status during the colonial days in particular and neglect of development in general. The demand for the Kosal state in Odisha also finds a justification in its historical specificity and gross underdevelopment. Because of a perceived

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lack of development, a separate union territory of Karaikalis out of Puducherry is being sought. A fundamental difference in language, culture, and history between the Bengalis and the Gorkhas, along with the issues of discrimination and development, are the basic reasons for a vociferous demand for Gorkhaland. The Kamtapur Liberation Organization’s case for a separate Kamtapur state rests on the prevailing large-scale land alienation, youth unemployment and economic backwardness, apart from the question of sustaining ethnic identity. The above expressions of discontents have been picked from the manifestos of various statehood demands. The choice of words, phrases or style may differ but the underlying substance remains more or less the same. The cry of each one of them is rooted in a deep sense of exploitation, discrimination and neglect. What also emerges is that although many of these demands began on cultural and ethnic grounds, with the passage of time, the lack of development became the most important plank. Such demands saw their emergence in both relatively developed states like Maharashtra and less developed states like Assam. Mercifully, these have been free of a religious complexion. One has to appreciate that diversity is a difference that is inherited while disparity is a cleavage that is acquired by a society. When the objective factors of language and culture or economic disparity and discrimination transform and translate into a subjective consciousness of separate identity within a place, then what emerges is what I call ‘placenism’. How will placenism shape the future place-name map of India?

The concept of placenism vs subregionalism Placenism is a consciousness, belongingness and bonding with a place. It is, as a concept, which carries forward the definition of the placists; the latter are people who believe a place is a primary determinant of the traits of people, thoughts, goods, services and ideas. The process of Placenism brews, when and where-ever these determinants translate into such a deep connection of people with a place, that the former seek a separate ‘place’ for themselves. Another word that could have been considered was localism. But I felt that the term locality, as a spatial unit representing people, was too narrow and limited in its ‘sound’ and ‘sense’ to assert politico-administrative status at the national level. Placenism does have a fighting chance in this respect. Moreover, and most importantly, the word ‘placenism’ has a ring of being a close relative of ‘place name’, for which I have an affinity. Wherever the sense of place, place-based identities and place-based deprivations come together, that is where the movement called ‘placenism’ begins. It evolves when people and place share a bond. Yi-Fu Tuan (1974) refers to this effective bond between people and place as topophilia. He uses the word place and not region in his formulation of this term. A borrowing from Greek, topos means ‘place’ and philia, ‘love of ’. It is the sense of attachment that fuels placenism and becomes the cause for seeking separate statehood. A fine comb through of the characteristics of any state reveals that it

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carries both diversity and disparity. Take the case of language. The people of a state may all be speaking a particular language but within it there is the diversity of dialects, which are more place-specific. Similarly, a state may be distinguished by the predominance of a tribal population but within it may reside a variety of tribes, which have place-specific distribution. Placenism picks out the finer details and fans across the subtler differences. One could suggest that the term placenism is a synonym of subregionalism. But it is not. The prefix ‘sub’ only implies a division of a region. The word ‘sub’ maintains that the ‘majority’ defines the ‘core’ character of the region and within it the ‘minority’ has a ‘sub’ status. The contention here is that a subregion may be a part of the whole, smaller in area, size or demographic volume but in no way inferior or less. The people of a subregion seeking the status of a separate state for their territory are not to be deemed as standing lower in rank. So to avoid any danger of ambiguity, I have coined a fresh term, ‘placenism’, to capture the spirit of subregionalism. The concept of placenism rests on the grounds that the issue is not about big or small, major or minor, main or sub; the qualifier simply connotes that people are not only conscious of the secondary treatment that they and their place is receiving but are equally proud of the place and assess it as distinctive and, hence, demand autonomy. In that sense it qualifies as an aspirational state or a territory seeking statehood. Therefore, I am inclined to substitute placenism for subregionalism. When people begin to create an identity marker around a rather understated specific variation – be it of language or tribe or economic deprivation – it is here that placenism begins to acquire meaning. At the core, placenism welds the people deeply and emotionally such that they are ready to make any sacrifice to ensure that its identity and individuality are maintained and duly recognized. Whether or not the goal of statehood is achieved is a different matter. In their continuing struggle of placenism, people create and deploy different symbols to achieve their end.

Name as the symbol of placenism An important step in building placenism is the use of symbols. These could take the form of logo, poem, song or even a map. These symbols are used to build a consciousness about a place carrying a spatially defined and duly acknowledged identity. The symbols reinforce and cement the idea of placenism. To this end, all placenism movements draw maps of ‘their claim to place’ and spell out the territory that belongs to them. To scaffold the identity, monuments and memorabilia like artefacts and photographs associated with the place are assembled to recall, recollect and instil a sense of place. Publishing a newspaper and establishing a headquarters, which then becomes the office for relaying messages and plans of actions, are methods to convey that it is an organized movement with a clear purpose and intent. Some even go a step further to set up schools, hospitals

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and universities ‘of their own and for their own’. These are meant to strengthen group solidarity and kindle the spirit of placenism. Among all these varied forms, it is the place name that stands out as the dominant link and vehicle for communication. A place name, in the context of the present discussion, stands for the name of an existing state or union territory as it also does for an aspiring one. No symbol, be it a flag or a poem or a map, is complete without the use of a place name. The constant use of the name builds a mission and dream, and is a reminder and conduit for fulfilling the demand. Gorkhaland is the goal of the people of the Darjeeling Hills in West Bengal. Its flag is green at the top, white in the middle and yellow at the bottom. The logo spells ‘Gorkhaland: Territorial Administration’. The name becomes the cry of the movement: ‘We want Gorkhaland’, ‘Jai Hind, Jai Gorkha’, ‘Gorkhaland for Gorkhas’, ‘Gorkhaland is our birthright’. The Bodos are demanding a separate state of Bodoland out of Assam. The flag of Bodoland is green with a red circle in the upper left corner, bearing a five-pointed golden star. Its slogans, which appear across the banners, media reports and websites are: ‘No excuse; Create separate state Bodoland’, ‘We want Bodoland’, ‘No Bodoland, no rest’, ‘Do for Bodoland’, ‘Die for Bodoland’, ‘Create Bodoland’, ‘Bodoland is our blood’, ‘Safety and right of the ethnic Bodo people’ and ‘A united Bodo nation’. In 2009, towards the fulfilment of their mission, the Bodos established their own Bodoland University. Flagging the colour orange with a logo in white, the emblem carries the script of Mithila Rajya Nirman Sena. They are fighting for Mithilanchal to be carved out within the state of Bihar. The often-used slogans are ‘Hamra Mithila Rajya Chahi’, ‘Jai jai Mithila’ and ‘Mithila Rajya waqt ki mang hai’. Vidarbha is located in the eastern half of Maharashtra. When it comes to symbols, Vidarbha goes a step further. Its flag carries a map with the name Vidarbha written out impressively and in bold. The slogans that resound in its name are ‘Jai Vidarbha’, ‘Vidarbha banao, wada nibhao’. The name of the place invariably figures in the assertion of each and every organization raised by the leaders of movements. Be it the Karbi Riso Adarbar (Assam); Kuki National Front (Manipur); Vidarbha Rajya Sangharsh Samiti (Maharashtra); Koshal Kranti Dal (Odisha); Purvanchal Mukti Morcha (Uttar Pradesh) or the Kamtapur Liberation Organization (West Bengal & Assam), none can do without a place name. The overwhelming importance of the name of place can be seen from a recent memorandum, under the title Manifesto of Mithila, submitted to the Government of India. This manifesto prefixed the denomination Maithili before each category of sociological differentiation of caste and religion. So the people of Mithila call themselves Maithil Brahmins, Maithil Yadavas, Mathili Kurmis or Maithili Muslims. The use of the place name affirms that all are the people of Mithila, and they carry a separate territorial and linguistic identity. The place name, therefore, is a sentiment-loaded ‘word’, a word that mesmerizes, unites and knits the people of the territory. It identifies a boundary – simultaneously of separation and of togetherness. Politicians use the place name to gain political mileage. This takes us to the core concern of this chapter – the future place

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names of India. An audit of the movements of placenism will provide some scope for a prognosis of future place names on the politico-administrative map of India.

Present number of aspirational states in India India is a complex yet rapidly evolving democracy. The people view attainment of statehood as a means of ensuring ethnic identity and economic opportunity. Several placenism movements are on going in India. To collate a comprehensive list of such movements, three sources of information were tapped: (a) the Parliament Debates that carry a mention of these movements; (b) the published literature and unpublished research in the form of doctoral dissertations available on the website of Shodhganga and (c) the media reports, websites and blogs set up by activists of the movements. When the information from these three sources was compiled, what came forth was a total of 41 placenism movements clamouring for statehood. The aspirational states can be seen across all parts of India. Each is vying to salvage a ‘place’ for their ‘name’ on the map of India. At present, it is difficult to predict which among these 41 movements are likely to succeed as a state or a union territory. Hence, it is desirable to take into account all those standing in the queue who are likely to shape the future politico-administrative map of India. Whenever the goal of a placenism is met, the name of the movement gets transformed into the name of a place. After all, it was the place that gave the movement a name and not the other way round.

Spatial pattern of ongoing placenism movements As already mentioned, there are 41 ongoing demands for statehood, but in terms of new names on the map there would be 38 of them, because three names – Jammu, Kashmir and Delhi – already exist. Among 41 movements, 27 are confined to territories within a state, 8 are spread across 2 states, 3 cover 3 states, 2 spill onto 4 states, and 1 has its tentacles spread across 5 states (see Appendix 9.A). When the names of the aspiring states were placed alongside their ‘locale of demand’, it came to light that among the six zones constituted by the Government of India to group the states of India, the maximum number of such movements are concentrated in the central and southern zones (see Figure 9.1). It is in these two zones that there is likelihood of the emergence of maximum numbers of new place names. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are the three that harbour the largest number of such movements. The phenomenon is not confined to large states alone. The small state of Manipur and the union territory of Puducherry are also not free from such demands. Therefore, curiosity provokes one to know the subnational units that are likely to be born and how these would change the place-name map of India. When the names of a sizeable sample of aspirant states was analyzed, it came to light that many of these have tribal and caste affiliations.

FIGURE 9.1 India: Names

and locations of aspirant states.

Source: Compiled by author.

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Tribal-based place names and aspirational states If placenism movements were to carry the day, the Northeast would have the additional state names of Karbi Anglong, Cater or North Cachar, Bodoland, Kukiland and Gorkhaland. The first three of these is now a part of Assam; Kukiland is in Manipur and Gorkhaland is based in West Bengal. A brief note on the interpretation of their names is provided below. Karbi Anglong is the largest district of Assam that is seeking separate statehood. In the tribal Karbi language, Anglong means hills or mountains. The word Karbi Anglong thus stands for the Karbi tribals living in the hills. To garner support for their cause, the Karbis have enrolled the tribal members of the neighbouring district of Cachars. Confirming this was the formation on May 25, 1986 of the Karbi Anlong – North Cachar Hills Autonomous State Demand Committee. In 1972, Cachar Gana Parishad submitted a memorandum to the Government of India to grant it the status of a union territory. The origin of the name Cachar can be traced to the Kachari kingdom, which was called Dimasa in medieval times, thereby establishing the historic political status of this area. Dimasa means children of the big river, referring to the Brahmaputra; Di – water, ma – suffix for great and sa – sons. The word Kachari in Dimsa dialect means the inhabitants living in close proximity to the river. The word Bodo means Tibet. The Bodos as a tribe are believed to have arrived in the Brahmaputra Valley via Tibet. The term Bodo was first used by the British ethnologist B. H. Hodgson in 1847 to denote a linguistic group of people. They are concentrated in the upper part of the territory lying to the north of the Brahmaputra River. The demand for a separate state of Bodoland was first made at the Annual Conference of All Bodo Student Union in 1987. It found support from the entire community. The Bodos are not the only seekers. There are also the Kukis. The Kukis are one of the indigenous peoples who live in the hills of Assam. It is believed that the Kukis settled here during the fifteenth century. When the British came to the northeast of India, they referred to them as Kuki or the naked people (Touthang, 2013). Today they constitute a cohesive group in the hope of having a state in their name. There are varying interpretations of the name Gorkhaland. It may be mentioned at the outset that Gorkha is the name of one of the 75 districts in Nepal and not that of an ethnic group. It is from here that the Gorkha kingdom expanded up to the Teesta River in the east during the rule of the Shan dynasty. Here is how the name Gorkha is explained: in Nepali, ‘Kharka’ means ‘grassland’. This land was believed to be like a meadow in early days. Thus, it was named Kharka, which later got modified to Garkha and further to Gorkha. Another explanation links Gorkha to the Sanskrit word ‘Gorakshaa’, which means the protection of the cow. Since Nepal is a country where killing a cow is sacrilegious and a crime, the land came to be known as Gorakshaa, which later became Gorkha. Still another explanation refers to a myth. It states that a sage, Gorakhnath, was the first to arrive in Nepal. A city was established where he appeared, and it was

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named ‘Gorkha’. Thereby is associated the word Gorkhaland. The movement for Gorkhaland has, however, gained momentum in West Bengal on ethnolinguistic-cultural lines. The people concentrated in the hilly northern parts of this state identify themselves as Indian Gorkhas and are vigorously seeking a state of their own. The demands for statehood are not brewing only among the ethnic groups of North-eastern India but the echoes of agitation can also be heard coming from Central India. The topography of the central plateau shares many similarities with that of the North-east. Both are dominated by hills, uplands and valleys, are covered with forests and sit atop rich mineral resources. A significant proportion of the population of both is tribal. Covering a large part of Madhya Pradesh, spilling into Maharashtra, Gujarat and Telangana, are the state demands of the Bhils, Gonds and the Malvis or Malavas. A subsistence economy, engaged primarily in hunting, earned the name Bhil for the people, from a Dravidian word bil or vil meaning a bow. In their hunting and during times of battle, archery was an important tool of combat in their tribal way of life. While they raised a demand for Bhilistan in the area overlapping Gujarat and Rajasthan, in the neighbourhood along the river Godavari was the demand for Gondwanaland. The Gonds speak the Gondi language, which is related to Telugu and other Dravidian languages. The literal meaning of Gonds is the hill people. They had established a Gondwana kingdom during the period between the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries and they believe that there is every reason to reclaim their land and identity. To that end, the Gondwana Ganatantra Party was formed in 1991, aiming at the creation of a separate Gondwana state covering the territory that was once ruled by the Gond kings. Occupying an agriculturally productive plateau in Madhya Pradesh is Malwa. It derives its name from the ancient tribe of Malavas. They are no longer tribal in the strict sense today, yet they make no bones about quoting history to claim a state of their own. Apart from the tribes, there are other communities in close proximity that seek statehood as their destiny. Among these are the Bhagela Rajputs, a warrior group, who have a sense of belonging to the tract called Baghelkhand, which covers five districts of north-eastern Madhya Pradesh and three adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh. Its literal meaning is ‘a land of tigers’. Baghelkhand was probably a wild forestland until the sixth century ce. Subsequently the Rajputs set up their chieftains in the region and they earned a great name for their valour, comparable to that of a Vyagra, meaning tiger in Sanskrit. In the row of territories that are laying a claim for separate statehood is Vidarbha, formerly also going by the names of Berar and Varhad. Vidarbha meant ‘house of Darbha’ and its real name was Darbha (Srinivasan, 2011). Forming the eastern part of Maharashtra, it is seeking separation from the parent state on the basis of the neglect it has been suffering in the sphere of development. An added argument is that during the colonial days, it was a part of the Central Provinces rather than that of Bombay Province. A simmering demand for statehood is the one called Marathwada, which emanates from central-west Maharashtra.

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The latter formed a part of the princely state of Hyderabad before independence. The origin of the name of this region lies in the term Mara-Matti-Vada, which means ‘the house of the Marathi people’. ‘Wada’ in Marathi is a house. Thus ethnic names like Karbi Anglong, Cachar, Kukiland, Bodoland and Gorkhaland are likely to be additional place names in the North-east, and Bhilistan, Gondwana, Malwa, Bugelkhand, Marathwada and Vidarbha are ones that may be carved out in the Central Plateau region. The States Reorganization Commission had set the example of creating states on the basis of language. So it seems that many of the future states are betting the possibility of statehood on the same basis. It is in this vein that the aspirant states across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, a pocket in West Bengal, and one across Gujarat and Rajasthan would carry place names that represent the language or dialect of the place.

Language- and dialect-based place names Awadh or Avadh, derived from Ayodhya, is a region located in the centre of north Uttar Pradesh and is also a candidate for statehood. Ayodhya is said to derive its name from King Ayudh, mentioned in the Hindu scriptures as an ancestor of Lord Ram. The main component of the word Ayodhya is Yodhya, which comes from the root yudh, to fight; Ayodhya translates as a city that is invincible. The place lent its name to the region as well as to the dialect Avadhi, which belongs to the Indo-Aryan family. The most famous works in Avadhi are the Ramacharitmanas and the Hanuman Chalisa by Tulsidas. If Awadh is the land of Lord Ram then Braj is the land of Lord Krishna. Brajbhoomi lies in the AgraMathura belt and stretches as far as the environs of Delhi, covering areas in northwest Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. Brajbhasha is a dialect of Hindi and is spoken by the Brajwasis. The place has religious and historic significance and is at the heart of the devotional bond between Radha and Krishna. Tulsidas’s work Vinay Patrika and Surdas’s Sur Sangam were written in Brajbhasha. Much like Awadh, the claim of Braj for statehood is based on a dialect. Similar to Awadh and Braj, Bajjika in western Bihar, Angika in eastern Bihar and Mithila in northern Bihar are at the forefront in claiming statehood on the basis of their distinct dialect. The territories of these overlap, and disputes over boundaries would emerge; yet, the adherents make a clear distinction among the dialects while at the same time insisting on the case for their own state. The name Angika carries many interpretations. The Mahabharata and the Puranas attest that the name Anga is eponymous to Prince Anga, the founder of the kingdom. The details in the Mahabharata are as follows: The king, Bali, requested the sage Dirghatamas to bless him with sons. The sage is said to have begotten him five sons through his queen Sudesna. The princes were named Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Sumha and Pundra. Each of them later founded kingdoms in their respective names. The one called Anga was situated in Bihar. The Ramayana narrates the origin of the name Anga as the place where Kamadeva was burnt to death by Siva and where his body parts (angas) are scattered.

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According to the Bhavisya Purana, Nimi’s son Mithi founded the beautiful city of Mithila. He came to be known as Janaka, as he was the founder of the city. The Visnu Purana gives an alternative fanciful account of the origin of the name Mithila. Vasistha, having performed the sacrificial rites for Indra, went to Mithila to commence the sacrificial rites for King Nimi. On reaching there, he found that the king had already engaged Gautama to perform this ritual assignment. He cursed the king in sleep thus: ‘King Nimi you be bodiless’. The sage churned up the dead body of Nimi and as a result of this a child was born, known as Mithi. Mithila was named after Mithi and the kings were called the Maithilas (Law, 1976). Since Mithi was born out of the body of his father, he took the title Janaka. Following him, the kings of Mithila were called Janaka. The bestknown among them was Seeradhwaja, father of Sita, the consort of Lord Ram. Lakshman Jha (1952) in his book, Mithila: A Union Republic, writes: ‘Taken as a linguistic, geographical and cultural unit, or considered on the extent of its territory or the strength of its population, Mithila has a claim to statehood’. Besides Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan are three other states where one pocket of each is seeking statehood on the basis of language or dialect. The movement for creating a new state of Kamtapur out of West Bengal is being spearheaded by the Koch-Rajbanshis. It is argued that prior to the advent of Ahoms, the language was called Kamrupi or Kamtapuri and it is only after the subsequent creation of Assam state that the name of the language was changed to Assamese. Kamtapuri is not a mere dialect but an ageold and full-fledged language’ (Ray, 2007) It is now suffering non-recognition. The protests stemming from this sense of neglect have gradually taken the form of a movement for territorial recognition of Kamtapur. The demand for a state in the form of the Sindhi Linguistic Territory is meant to cover contiguous tracts in both Gujarat and Rajasthan. The Gujarat component refers to Kutch district and the Rajasthan component to Jaisalmer, Jalore and Barmer districts. The word Sindh comes from the Sanskrit term Sindhu. The Sindh province is located in Pakistan. At the time of partition, the Muslim Sindhis stayed back in Sindh, but the Hindu Sindhis were forced to leave and migrate to India. The Hindu Sindhis have always been keen to have their own heartland in the form of a Sindhi linguistic state, called ‘Sindhi Pradesh’. Tuluvas of Tulu Nadu are also seeking a state of their own out of Karnataka. They assert that, before independence, Tulu was the official language of the territory for which they are demanding statehood. Linguists suggest that the word ‘Tulu’ means ‘that which is connected with water’. In Tamil, tuli means drop of water; in Malayalam, also, tulli means water. While a large number of aspirational states make their case on the basis of language or dialect, some express their goal in the language of cardinal points of the compass.

Cardinal points as place names Three territories are such examples vying for statehood with names associated with the points on the geographical compass. These are Uttarandhra,

Placenism and future place names  201

Seemanchal and Purvanchal. Uttarandhra finds a location in north-east Andhra Pradesh; Seemanchal, meaning the frontier zone, forms the north-eastern part of Bihar; and Purvanchal, signifying east, corresponds to the eastern-most section of Uttar Pradesh. There are two things that stand out about these place names. First, the name in each case is with reference to the location of the most underdeveloped and deprived area within the respective states. The complaint of Uttarandhra is that it is ‘the most backward region in terms of socio-economic parameters’. Seemanchal in Bihar is one of the most backward regions of India and Purvanchal perceives itself as the most ‘deprived and neglected’ part of the state of Uttar Pradesh. Second, the names of the cardinal points are with reference to the physical makeup of the parent state and not with reference to India. Thus, Seemanchal means a frontier, but it is a frontier to Bihar and not to India. This bears a stark comparison with the names Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh, which adhere to the disposition of India.

Names of subnational units in present and future A comparison of the possible future names of states and union territories with that of the present ones is in order. A dominant share of the potential future place names finds a bearing with ethnicity, language, caste or a lineage of dynasty. These make up a sizeable three-quarters of the total. One group of five names finds an association with cardinal directions. A small group of only three names makes reference to the physical geography of the territory. All this is in a sharp contrast to the existing situation where the names of states and union territories are heavily loaded in favour of the physical geography. This shows that in years to come, it is the people of India who are going to define their presence and assert their identity through the names of places. The future place names will carry a marked flavour of those groups of people who seek recognition on an equal level with mainstream India. They no longer want to be called by a generic name. The name Bihar for all Biharis is not acceptable to the Maithalis or the Angikas or Baijikas. The Bhils do not want to be submerged within Rajasthanis or Gujaratis. The name Assamese no longer gels well with Kamtapuris and the Gorkhas do not want to be subsumed within the name Bengalis. The future place names would overthrow and reconfigure the spirit and substance of the Report of the State Reorganisation Commission. They would de-mythologize and shatter observations like: ‘There is no case for dividing the Uttar Pradesh, and this State should continue in its existing form’ (States Reorganization Commission, 1955). The state of Uttarakhand was created in 2000. The same holds good for Bihar, ‘It does not seem to be either necessary or desirable to create a Jharkhand state in south Bihar; the special needs of this area should, however, be recognized’ (States Reorganization Commission, 1955). Ironically demolishing this claim was the creation of Jharkhand as an independent state in its own right in 2000. The Report of the States Reorganization Commission (1955) showed their preference for large states in the following words: ‘The units should be large

202  Placenism and future place names

enough to ensure administrative efficiency and the co-ordination of economic development and welfare activities’. The context within which the States Reorganization Commission held statehood was different when national unity was on the line. It could be added that: ‘It is the Union of India that is the basis of our nationality. It is in that Union that our hopes for the future are centred … It is the strength and the stability of the Union and its capacity to develop and evolve that should be the governing consideration of all changes in the country’. Over time, the experience has been that the large states, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, have not been able to deliver the desired fruits of development. It seems that due to this, the guiding principles in this regard would favour smaller states. Moreover, the issue of nation-building stands resolved today and the formation of additional and smaller states poses no threat to the national unity. This is why the additional place names associated with the creation of more states are likely to make it onto the map of India.

How far ahead is the future? It is debatable as to which among the 41 placenism movements would succeed. How soon would these place names achieve signature on the map of India? These are difficult questions to answer. This is because not all movements carry the same strength and they range from those that are passive to ones that are active and a few that are violent. Some movements wax and wane. Several are persistent. The lack of active public support may weaken them while a political fillip may infuse the fresh blood of vigour and action. The form of seeking statehood varies. There are some that are at the stage of enrolling members, sending out petitions and memoranda, while others have graduated to the stage of holding seminars, rallies and enrolling the media. There are handfuls that indulge in activities like organizing bandhs, or acts of rail roko (roko is a Hindi word meaning to block the passage way) and rasta (road) roko. Boycotting the state and national functions, organizing protest marches and resorting to hunger strikes are the other tactics employed. As frustration mounts and funds and support increase, a few take to the gun and indulge in guerrilla tactics, sometimes killing and, in extreme cases, bombing. On this spectrum from the utterly passive to the hyperactive, it would be hard to say which of them might be the front runners in the race for recognition of a place name. Some get overrun by counter-movements; some split, politically, along the way while others adopt the route of mergers and acquisition to regain their momentum. Much depends upon the power of leaders to hold back and negotiate effectively for their space. The movements differ also in terms of their longevity and age. It is hard to establish the year of origin of these movements; some make a claim back to the years of colonialism, and others insist that when the States Reorganization Commission was set up, they had their demands in the pipeline and were assured that statehood was on the table. There are many hurdles and bottlenecks that

Placenism and future place names  203

have to be crossed for a state to emerge. The momentum has to be sustained, leaders have to be enrolled and state legislatures to pass and forward the request. It is then tabled in Parliament for the concurrence of both its Houses and finally must obtain the signature of the President of India. Everything takes time. The whole process shapes, proceeds and sharpens up in different ways. The movement for the Vidarbha province started during the colonial days. In 1917, the Provincial Congress Committee petitioned the Secretary of State for India and the Viceroy, to recommend the creation of a Marathi-speaking province in central India. They argued that Vidarbha was being neglected by the Central Provinces Hindi-speaking majority. By 1938, the demand for a separate Marathi province was being voiced by the Nagpur Provincial Congress Committee. In 1940, the Mahavidarbha Samiti (Greater Vidarbha Committee) was formed. In 1955, the viability of the Vidarbha region as a separate state was recognized by the States Reorganisation Commission. In the 1960s, the demand for a separate state for Vidarbha got subsumed into the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, which was geared towards unification of all Marathi-speaking areas. The Vidarbha Rajya Sangharsha Samiti and Maha-Vidarbha Sangharsha Samiti, the organizations that led this movement, gathered momentum in the 1990s for the formation of Vidarbha as a separate state out of Maharashtra. Vidarbha Rajya Sangram Samiti was revived in 2010 to fast-track the movement. But for the past 100 years, statehood has alluded Vidarbha. In the 1980s, the demand for Gorkhaland emerged out of West Bengal. The Gorkha National Liberation Front led the movement from1986 to 1988 by disrupting life in Darjeeling district on a large scale. To assuage the feelings of the protestors, the government set up the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council in 1988, with special powers within the framework of West Bengal. The measure proved temporary in resolving the issue. In 2008, the demand for Gorkhaland was again raised, this time by a new party called Gorkha Janmukti Morcha. In 2011 and again in 2017, Darjeeling witnessed a series of violent protests to put pressure on the state and central governments to accept its demand for Gorkhaland. Even after a span of 37 years, the issue still lingers. Likewise, the Purvanchal Vikas Nidhi had been constituted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1991 for speedy development of this backward area and also to pre-empt any demand for statehood. In 1996, the Purvanchal Mukti Morcha raised the demand for the first time for a separate state of Purvanchal. In response, the Purvanchal Economic Zone was formed by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 2000. The demand for Purvanchal as a separate state again erupted in 2009. In 2009, a letter recommending a separate state of Purvanchal was sent to the Central Government by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. The issue has been pending for the last 26 years. In 1995, the Kamtapur Liberation Organization came into existence, and in 1996 the Kamtapur People’s Party was founded. In 2000, Kamtapur activists descended in their thousands on Nilmoni Airport in the town of Cooch Behar in support of the demand for a separate state of Kamtapur. In 2009, the Kamtapur

204  Placenism and future place names

Progressive Party submitted a memorandum for the creation of Kamtapur state. All this has been going on for 22 years. In the 1960s, the Plains’ Tribal Council of Assam, a political party, seized the problem that the Bodo and other tribal native to the Assam plains were being deprived of their land as it was being gradually taken over illegally by landlords and immigrants from Bangladesh. In 1967, this council made a demand for the creation of a union territory, called Udayachal, to be carved out of Assam. This demand, however, petered out. Later, in 1987, the All Bodo Students Union demanded a separate state, called Bodoland, and the Bodo Peoples Action Committee was created to spearhead the movement. In 1993, the Bodo Autonomous Council was set up by the Government of Assam as an alternative. The demand for statehood remains unmet in 2017. The name Telangana appeared on the state map of India only in 2014. Here are snippets of its struggle. A violent agrarian revolt took shape here when the Nizam of Hyderabad showed his reluctance to accede to India at the time of partition of the Indian subcontinent. The movement was suppressed by the Indian Government in 1951. Although the States Reorganisation Commission had recommended the formation of Hyderabad or Telangana as a separate state, it was merged with Andhra to form the new state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956. To pacify the feelings of the Telangana people, an agreement was drawn up to provide certain safeguards for them in terms of proportional distribution of revenue, reservations for locals in educational institutions and due representation in government employment, among other things. In 1969, discontent with the agreement intensified. The demand for statehood remained alternately active and dormant for decades. In 2001, the movement was revived under the leadership of the Telengana Rashtra Samithi and finally the state of Telangana was born in 2014, after a gestation period of 71 years. But there have also been fast movers and takers as well. There was a revolt against the Indian Government by Naga National Council in 1947. A violent secessionist movement was started in 1952 by the Council in the Naga Hill district of Assam. To resolve the issue, Nagaland was granted statehood in 1963, with a struggle of just 16 years. Manipur princely state was integrated within India in 1949. A delay in acquiring statehood prompted its Meitei populace to organize the United Liberation Front in 1964. Manipur became a full-fledged state in 1972, after 23 years of demand. It was in the 1960s and 1970s that several states took form in the north-east region and new state names came to be a part of the map of India. The 1980s saw the rise of secessionist movements in Punjab, Kashmir and Assam. In the year 2000, Chhattisgarh in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand in Bihar and Uttarakhand in Uttar Pradesh achieved statehood, movements for which had been active since the 1950s. Telangana had to struggle for more than half a century to see its demand for statehood materialize in 2014. The chronological history of the movements confirms that there is no one reason, route or age that defines the guarantee of a movement gaining statehood.

Placenism and future place names  205

It is in this context that pinning down any time-frame is difficult. There are chances that movements would gallop with greater speed in the coming years with the arrival of information technology, especially the Internet. Here, people and organizations belonging to a place can spread their message across the globe. The future may not be too far ahead in time. Much depends on the nature of the interaction between civil society, democracy and politics.

Back to the past in future place names When the list of names of aspirational states was referred in the historical atlases of Schwartzberg (1978) and Habib (2012), nearly 20 names were found as ­belonging to the ‘ancient period’. Many found their association with Janapadas of early historical times ( Janapada is a compound which means Jana for tribe and Pada for path. It has a distinct geographical connotation. From its original attestation, the word has a dual meaning of ‘realm or territory’ and also ‘subject or people’. It could also mean ‘place of the people’ or ‘land and people’). According to various sources, there were 16 Janapadas during the ancient period. The future place name Anga (in Bihar) was 1 among these 16. Belonging to the Vedic period were names like Kachchh, Kashmir, Swarashtra and Magadh. The map of India based on narrations in the Mahabharata carried the name Konkan and Vidarbha. The regions mentioned in the Puranas included Vindhya Pradesh. Traceable to the times of the Khiljis and Tughlaqs, 1290 to 1391, were the names Telangana and Ladakh. The map of Akbar’s provinces carried the names of both Awadh and Malwah. Vidarbha, with its names Berar and Varhad, found mention on the map among many kingdoms in central and western India. Rohilkhand figured in the 1721 map while Coorg or Kodagu was shown as part and parcel of the Mysore state of British India. Some of the names of aspirant states enjoyed the status of the name of a province in the past. Awadh or Oudh is one such case. The name Kathiawad, as a conglomerate of hundreds of princely states, existed at the time of independence. On that very occasion, the rulers of Bundelkhand and Rewa had adopted a resolution for the creation of a United States of Bundelkhand. In a sense, the names of the past are struggling to reappear and rejuvenate. I have tried to provide a bird’s-eye view of the current tendencies as well as of the shape that the country is likely to take when the processes of placenism get manifested. The demands are not new; nor would the future names be unfamiliar. The future state-name map of the country could begin to bear a resemblance to the names in ancient times. Therefore, it seems that it is through a bond with the ancestral past that the present generation of Indians would historically appreciate who they are today. Names would express a quest for strengthening identity. Names scaffold a place-world. They render the invisible visible and impart character to a place. Names, like buildings, if not properly maintained, will soon fall apart. Many names have faded from consciousness because they were not provided with the requisite social or political support. The names on the map of India have been changing over the years, and in recent times with ever-greater

206  Placenism and future place names

speed. If all these demands of placenism were met, the subnational name-map of India would see a distinct change. This would not be a new feature. Of the 17 names of provinces listed in 1941, 7 were obliterated by 1951. Of the 29 state names listed in 1951, 11 had vanished by 1961. Of the 31 state and union territories names in 1971, 2 had no place in 2001 (see Appendix 9.B). Sooner or later the place-name map of India would see the disappearance of some names and the emergence of many more new ones. The names likely to be wiped out are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, as each of these would disintegrate into many smaller states. Some names would continue but in a new form. Uttarandhra would carry a reminiscence of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka would carry a prefix Kalyan Karnataka. The rest of the subnational names are likely to endure but they would be an address for a diminished territorial expanse. Subtly camouflaged within the course of naming and renaming is how a place gets welded together with identity, power and space. The basic issues revolve around cultural identity and economic opportunity. In India, name of subnational units will be placed and replaced. This is because the people of the country are seeking a rapid cultural reclamation and at the same time struggling to gain economic uplift. The future subnational names would reflect the revival of the ancient and the vibrancy of the present and would flag up the places where democracy has failed and the promise of development has not been delivered. The contours of the future map of place names would unfold the diversity and the state of disparity in India. Mapping place names is never-ending, ever evolving and ever changing!

Appendix 9.A TABLE 9.A Geographical spread of aspirant states

Spread

No.

Names of proposed new state

Spread over five states Spread over four states

1

1 Gondwana State (Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Orissa) 1 Delhi (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana) 2 Bhojpur (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand) 3 Bhilkhand/Bhilistan (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra) 1 Konkan State (Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra) 2 Kongu Nadu/Kongadesam (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala) 1 Chachar/Dimasa State (Assam and Nagaland) 2 Mithila/Mithilanchal/Ichikanchal (Bihar and Jharkhand) 3 Sindh/Sindhi Pradesh/Sindhudesh (Gujarat and Rajasthan) 4 Tulunadu (Karnataka and Kerala) 5 Malwa (Madhya Pradesha and Rajasthan) 6 Baghelkhand (Madhya Pradesha and Uttar Pradesh) 7 Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesha and Uttar Pradesh) 8 Kamtapur (West Bengal and Assam) 1 Rayalseema (Andhra Pradesh) 2 Uttaraandhra (Andhra Pradeh) 3 Bodoland (Assam) 4 KarbiAnglong (Assam) 5 Angika (Bihar) 6 Bajjika Pradesh/Bijikanchal (Bihar) 7 Seemanchal (Bihar) 8 Kutch (Gujarat) 9 Saurashtra (Gujarat) 10 Jammu ( Jammu and Kashmir) 11 Kashmir ( Jammu and Kashmir) 12 Ladakh ( Jammu and Kashmir) 13 Kalyan Karnataka (Karnataka) 14 Karu Nadu (Karnataka) 15 Kodagu (Karnataka) 16 Mahakaushal (Madhya Pradesh) 17 Marathwada (Maharashtra) 18 Vidarbha (Maharashtra) 19 Kukiland (Manipur) 20 Kosal/ Kosalanchal (Odisha) 21 Karaikal (Puducherry) 22 Mewar (Rajasthan) 23 Awadh (Uttar Pradesh) 24 Braj Pradesh/Harit Pradesh/Paschimi Pradesh (Uttar Pradesh) 25 Purvanchal (Uttar Pradesh) 26 Rohilkhand (Uttar Pradesh) 27 Gorkhaland (West Bengal)

Spread over three states Spread over two states

3

2 8

Within one state

27

Total

41

Source: Compiled by author.

TABLE 9.B Names of provinces/states eliminated between successive censuses

Between the Census of

Nos. obliterated

1941–1951

7

1951–1961

11

1961–1971

3

1971–1981

2

1981–1991 1991–2001 2001–2011

0 0 2

Total

25

Based on Census of India (2011). Source: Compiled by author.

Names of provinces and states 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 2 3 1 2

Baroda Central India Agency Central Province and Berar Gwalior Rajputana Agency United Province Western India State Agency Ajmer Bombay Hyderabad Bilaspur Bhopal Coorg Kutch Madhya Bharat Saurashtra Travancore-Cochin and Vindhya Pradesh Madras Naga Hills-Tuensang Area North-East Frontier Agency Mysore Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands

1 Uttarakhand 2 Puducherry

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INDEX

108 Shakti Peeths 83 12 Jyotirlingas 82 27th Annual Conference of the Place Name Society of India 19 Abdu Rahiman Nagar 95 ‘abodes of God’ see Dhams Abupur 90 Achaemenids 45 address codes 12 Adilabad 92 Adityanath, Yogi 125, 128 Administrative Atlas of India 73, 121 Advani 178 Advisory Committee on Undersea Features 135 Agarwalla, Parmeshwar Kumar 157 Agarwals 6 Agra 7, 21, 91 Agra Cantt 102 Agrahara 81 agraharam 81 Agraharam 81 Agroha 6 Ahmadabad 92 Ahmed Shah 92 Ahoms 200 Ajanaa 48 Ajmer 91 Akbarabad see Agra Akbar (Mughal Emperor) 89, 91, 94, 125, 205 alam 53 Ala-ud-din Khilji 96

Al-Biruni 49, 65, 170 Al-Hind 46 Ali, S. Fazl 154 Aligarh 95 Allahabad 8, 84, 94, 115, 125–6 Allah (God) 94 All Bodo Students Union 197, 204 All India Congress Committee 153 alphabets and numbers 11 Amartya Sen Award for Social Scientists 1 Ambala Cantt 102 Ambar, Malik 96 Ambedkar, B. R. 151, 152, 189 American Philatelic Society 4 Anantnag 94 Andaman and Nicobar Islands 4, 53, 62, 71, 102–3, 104–5, 127 Andaman Islands 6, 72–3 Andaman Penal Colony 6, 103 Andhra Pradesh 8, 17, 53, 57, 58, 74, 121, 154, 206 Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act (2014) 191 Andhras (tribal group) 67 Andhra vishaya see Andhra Pradesh Aney, Madhav Shrihari 176 Angika 199 Anglicization of place names 106–18; demand for global standardization 112–13; multiple spellings 108–11; standardization 113–18; transliteration 111–12; variety of languages, scripts and pronunciations 108

222 Index

Annalagraharam 81 Antarctica 135 Antheraea assamensis 4 Anthropological Survey of India 191 Apache Native American 1 Arabs 88 Arani 21 Archaeological Survey of India 16 Arthashastra/Arthaśāstra 48, 73 Arumugam, R.S. 167 Arunachal Pradesh 8, 54, 58, 61, 64, 71 Asama 64 Ashtadhyayi/Astadhyayi 13, 73 Asiatic Society 16 Asoka (King) 48, 67 aspirational states: ethnic diversity and 190–1; regional disparity and 191–2; tribal-based place names and 197–9 Assam 4, 8, 54, 64, 69, 85, 121, 183–4 Atlas of the Census of India 73 Atlas on the Mughal Empire 116 Atwal, Surjit Singh 171 Aurangabad 91–2, 96 Aurangzeb (Mughal emperor) 91–2, 94, 96 Avesta 45 Awadh/Avadh 199 Ayodhya/Ayuthaya 7, 71, 80, 82, 94, 199 Azad, Mulana Abul Kalam 150 Babur (Mughal Emperor) 87, 91 Bacaim see Vasai Bada’uni, ‘Abd-ul-Qadir 94 Badrinath 84 Baghelkhand 148, 198 Bahadur Shah I 96 Bajirao, Peshwa 989 Bajjika 199 Balipara Frontier Track see Arunachal Pradesh Banaras 94 Banaras Hindu University 7 Bandipur National Park 66 Bangalore Cantt 102 Bangkok 7 Bangladesh see East Bengal Bang Rashtra 55 Barlinagy, W.S. 176 Baroda see Vadodara Barog railway station 102 Barren Island 104 Barwaha Kasba 93 Bassayya, Sidrameshwar Swamy 177 Basso, Keith H. 1 Batten, G. A. 113

Bednore dynasty 116 Begamganj 91 Begampur 91 Begusarai 93 Belgaum 126 Beluru 85 Benaras see Varanasi Bengal 61–2, 75–6, 110, 115 Bengali 84, 108 Bengal Presidency 54 Bhagela Rajputs 198 Bhakti Movement 81, 96 Bhal, Chandra 150 Bhandary, Ram Deo 180 ‘Bharata bhaagyavidhaata’ 49 Bharatah Aditiyah 47 Bharata (Rama’s brother) 47 Bharatavarṣa 47, 48 Bharatavarṣais 47 Bharat/Bharata see India Bharat Ganarajya 49 Bharatiya Janata/Janta Party 7–8, 49, 178 Bharatiyar 165 Bhāratīya Sthalanāma Patrikā 16–7 Bhargava, M.P. 167 Bhavisya Purana 200 Bhilistan 198 Bhilkhand 191 Bhopal 92 Bhopal Express (1999) 5 Bidaravalli 85 Bidri 4 Bihar 8, 70, 121, 202, 206 Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (BIMARU) 8 The Bihar State Reorganisation Bill (2000) 182 bin Qasim, Muhammad 88 Bisharat Ganj 93 Bishenpur see Lamlangong black pepper Indian capsicum 3 Blair, Archibald 103 Board of Geographic Names 112 Bodo Autonomous Council 204 Bodoland 191, 194, 197, 204 Bodo Peoples Action Committee 204 Bodos 194, 197, 204 Bombay see Mumbai Bombay Reorganization Bill (1960) 55 boosterism names 71–3 Bose, Ashish 8 Bose, N. K. 17 Bose, Netaji Subhash Chandra 127 Brahmanas 79, 81 Brajbhasha 199

Index  223

Brajbhoomi 199 Brajwasis 199 British 99–100, 107; Army 102; Government 50, 113; interest in place names 15–16; Parliament 50 Bundelkhand 148, 205 Buragohain, Nabin Chandra 174 Bwiswmuthiary, Sansuma Khunggur 190 Cachar Gana Parishad 197 Calcutta see Kolkata Calicut see Kozhikode Caloenas nicobarica 4 Cambay 92 Camellia assamica 4 Canara 116 cantonment names 102 capital city vs. regional name 159–68; Bombay vs. Maharashtra 159; Madras vs. Tamil Nadu 162–8; Mysore vs. Karnataka 159–62 Cardamom Hills 105 cardinal points as place names 200–1 Cashmere see Kashmir caste hierarchy 79 C. B. Ganj see Clutterbuckganj railway station Census Commissioner of India 133 Census of India 9, 73, 90, 94, 107, 121, 191 Central Government 120, 148 Central India Agency 106 Ceralam/Cera-nadu 63 Chakravarti-kshetra 48 Chakravartty, Renu 161–3 Champaran 86 Chandi/Chandika (goddess) 87 Chandigarh 53, 87 Chandragomin 14 Chandragupta Maurya 46 Chandra-Vyakarana 14 Chanthaburi 82 Chatterjee, S. P. 65 Chatturvedi, Satyavrat 179 Chaturarthika 14 Chennai 6, 121, 127–8; vs. Tamil Nadu 162–8 Chennappa Nayakadu 6 Chennappattanam see Chennai Cheralam 56, 63 Cheralamcan 63 Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus 128 Chhattisgarh 53, 57, 63, 69, 183 Chidambaram, V. O. 125 Chief Commissioner’s Province 54, 106

Chikkalingaiah, K. 162 Chintapalliagraharam 81 Chitambaranar see Thoothukudi district Chitrakoot 80 Chola kings 82 Chota Nagpur Improvement Society 182 Civil War (1861–1865) 112 Clutterbuck, Peter 102 Clutterbuckganj railway station 102 Coimbatore 80, 110 Collins Dictionary 15 Colonisation Society of India 102 commercialization of place names 129 Communist Party of India 8 Constituent Assembly 150, 151 Constitution in New Delhi 150 Constitution of India 44, 46, 89, 151–5 Corbett, Jim 104 Cornwallis, Charles 103 ‘Cow belt of India’ 8 Creative Commons 3 Cuddalore 98 cultural names 59, 67–8 Cunningham, Alexander 16 Dadra 68 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 53, 65, 68, 98 Daji, Homi F. 171 Dalhousie Cantonment 102 Dalmia, Jaidayal 9 Dalmia, Ramkrishna 9 Dalmiapuram 9 Dalmiya Group 9 Dalton, Edward Tuite 103 Daltonganj 103 Daman and Diu 53, 65, 98 Daman Ganga (river) 65 Danish East India Company 99 Dara Shikoh 92, 94 Darjeeling 4, 7 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council 203 Darjiling 101 Darul Iqbal 92 Darul-Mulk 92 Darul Muminin 92 Das, Pitambar 157, 170, 176 Dasappa, H. C. 160 Datar, Balwantrao Nageshrao 160–1 dates of India see tamar-e-hind Daulatabad see Devagiri Deccan Herald 121 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction 129–130 degrees and minutes 10 degree sheets 11

224 Index

Dehaleez/Dehali 61 De Havilland 110 Dehradun 86 Delhi 13, 61, 69–71, 73, 91–2, 96, 115, 195 Delhi Cantt 102 democratization of place names 148–86; classification of Parliament debates 158–83; demands for name change 183–4; features of Parliament debates 155–8; naming subnational units 149–55 Department of Geography 20 Department of History and Culture 16 Department of Science and Technology 133 Des 5 descriptive English words as place names 104–5 Deshastha Brahmins 5 Deshmukh 6 Devagiri 94 Dhams 84 dharma 46 Dhilli see Delhi Dhillika (goddess) 70 Dhilu/Dihlu (King) 69 dialects and languages 78 dig-vijaya 48 Discovery of India 49 district names, change in 121–5 Diu 61 double place names 52–3 Dravida/Dravidasthan see South India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) 9 Dravidian languages 78, 84 Dubey, Saroj 178, 190 Dugal, U.S. 171 Dusher 4 Dushyanta (King) 47 Dusseheri 4 dusseheri mango 4 Dutch East India Company 99 Dvarasamudra 82 Dwarka 84 Dwarka temple 81 East Bengal 54, 62 East Central Railways 102 Eastern States Agency 106 Eastern Trade Routes 108 East India Company 100, 107 East Pakistan see East Bengal Ellenabad 103

England 15 English 118; vs. indigenous name 168–70; place names 126–7 Englishization of place names 98–106; English words 104; personal English names 100–1 The Englishman 115 English-medium universities 118 English Place Name Society 15, 17 Epigraphical Society of India 16 eponymous names 69 Ernakulam 80 ethnic diversity and aspirational states 190–1 Europeans 98 extra-terrestrial features 2 Faizabad 94 False Point 105 Fanthome, Francis 179 Faridabad 91 Farsi see Persian language Fatehabad 92, 94 Fatehnagar see Khadki Fatehpur Sikri 94 Forbes, A. J. 103 Forbesganj 103 Foreign Names Committee 7, 133 foreign vs. indigenous name 168–73 Fort St. George 104 Frederick V (King) 99 Frederic’s Islands 99 Frederiksnagore 99 French East India Company 99 French India 99 French Rocks 99–100 French vs. indigenous name 172–3 Galatea (river) 105 Ganapathi Agraharam 81 Gandhi, Indira 49 Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand 16, 152 Ganga 7 Gangotri 84 garh 53 Garhwal 64, 84 Garthapuri see Guntur Gautam, Mohan Lal 151 Gaya 84 gazetteer 107, 113 Geographical Indications Act 22–3 Geographical Information Systems 3 geographical name 2 geography 20

Index  225

GeoNames 3 Ghaziabad 92, 94 Ghazi-ud-din, Wazir 92, 94 Ghori, Muhammad 88 Gilchrist, John Borthwick 89, 111 Gita Govinda 111 Goa 7, 71, 98 god and goddess names 80 Goldingham, John 112 Gonds 198 Gondwana Ganatantra Party 198 Gondwanaland 191, 198 Gorakhpur 96 Gorkha Janmukti Morcha 203 Gorkhaland 192, 194, 197–8, 203 Gorkha National Liberation Front 203 gotras 5–6 Goud, Y. Gadilingana 163 Gounder, V. Krishnamoorthi 164 Government of Assam 204 Government of India 9, 11, 49, 54, 106, 113, 121, 132–3, 136, 154, 172, 194–5, 197, 204 Government of Uttar Pradesh 203 Governor’s province 105 gram panchayats 9 Great Trigonometrically Survey maps 116 Gudlamadugu see Timmasamudram Gujarat 67, 109, 198, 200 Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee 175 Gujarat Rajya Grantha Nirman Board 16 Gujarat Sahitya Academy 16 Gujarat Sthalanama Samsad 16 Gujarat University 16 Gujarat Vidyapith 16 Gulmarg 93 Guntur 86 Gupta, Bhupesh 163, 176 Gupta Kasi 83 Gurgaon 125 Gurjar Rashtra 55 Gurujara Rashtra 67 Guru Nanak 96 Guru-pavana-puram see Guruvayur Guruvayur 85 Hadrat-Sultan 92 Haduvalli 85 Hailey National Park see Jim Corbett National Park Haji 95 Hamid, Abdul 150 Hamilton, Ian 102 Hamiltonganj railway station 102

Handuman 70 Hanuman Chalisa 199 Hapta Hindu see Sapta-Sindhiva Harappa 78 Hari 69–70 Haridwar 80 Harrison, Benjamin 112 Haryala 66 Haryana 8, 58, 66, 70–1 Havelock, Henry 103 Havelock Island 103, 127 Hazaribagh 93 hill station names 101 Hill Tippera 115 Himachal Pradesh 8, 53, 64, 71, 121, 148 Himalayas 63–4, 86, 101 himavant 64 Himavarsa 48 Hindi 8, 84, 118, 120 ‘Hindi belt’ 8 Hind Mahasagar 49 Hinduism 49, 81–2, 85, 96 Hindustan see India Hindustani 89 Hindustan Times 49 Hirode 99 Historical Atlas of South Asia 73 Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases 108 Hodgson, B. H. 197 Home Department 113 Home Ministry 148 homonyms 21–2 Honda 2 Wheelers station 129 Hooghly 86 Houses of Parliament 52, 55, 62, 154–6, 182 Humayun (Mughal emperor) 91 Hunter, William Wilson 113, 115, 118 Hutch, Robert 103 Hyderabad 21 Ibrahimpatnam 95 Ibrahimpur 95 Ilhabas 94 Imperial Gazetteers of India 66, 113 The Imperial Gazetteers of India 115 inclusive vs. exclusive names 174–7 India 119–20; British impact in 100; dialects and languages 78; Muslim rule in 88–9; name from cosmography 48–9; name from river 44–6; name from scriptures 46–8; name from Sultanate 49–50; physical geography 78; see also individual entries

226 Index

India Administrative Atlas (1872–2001): A Historical Perspective 73 India ink 3 Indian Armed Forces 49 Indian Constituent Assembly 49–50 Indian Council of Historical Research 16 Indian Council of Social Science Research 1, 17 Indian Express 80 Indian Independence Bill 50 Indian National Congress 8, 49, 55, 125, 178 Indian Ocean see Hind Mahasagar Indian Oil Seed see Sesamum indicum Indian Parliament see Houses of Parliament Indian Public Opinion 115 Indian Standard Time 112 Indian States Department 148 Indian Statutory Commission: 1915 152; 1927 153 Indian steel 3 Indica 4 indigo 4 Indigo feratinctoria 4 Indore 126 Indraprastha 80 Indus Ind Bank Cybercity station 129 International Astronomical Union 135 International Congress of Geographers 112 Iqbal, Muhammad 119 Islam 88, 90, 94–5 Islamabad see Anantnag J. K. Tyre station 129 Jahangirabad 91 Jahangir (Mughal Emperor) 91 Jai Hind 49 Jainism 46, 48 Jalalabad 21 Jallianwala Bagh 7 Jambolan see Jambu (tree) Jamboolochan (King) 69 Jambuddivapannatti 48 Jambudvipa see India Jambudvipa 69 Jambu (tree) 48 Jammu 62, 69–70 Jammu and Kashmir 53, 55, 63, 195 Jammu and Kashmir National Conference 8 Jamwa Mata (goddess) 70 ‘Janaganamana’ (National Anthem of India) 51 Janapadas 205

Jangipur 91 Jangl Hakeem 90 Janta Dal 128 Jha, Lakshman 200 Jharkhand 8, 53, 66, 71, 157, 182, 201 Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council 182 Jharkhand Band 182 Jim Corbett National Park 103–4 Jinendrabudhi 14 Jinnah, Mahomedali 119 Joint Committee 159 Jones, William 16, 111 Joshi, Jagannath Rao 170 Joshi, Krishnacharya 161 Kabir 96 Kachchi/Kanchipura see Kancheepuram Kadapa 124 Kalapani 72–3 Kalidas 65 Kalinga Rashtra 55 Kallakudi see Dalmiapuram Kamaraj, Kumaraswami 125 ‘Kamaraj Terminal’ 125 Kamath, Hari Vishnu 169 Kamrupi/Kamtapuri 200 Kamtapur 192, 200 Kamtapur Liberation Organization 192, 194, 203 Kamtapur People’s Party 203 Kamtapur Progressive Party 203–4 Kanchanaburi 82 Kancheepuram 85 Kanchipur see Langthabal Kannadu/Kammitunadu 66 Kanpur 115 Kapoor, Jaspat Roy 151, 176 Karaikal 8 Karaundi 61 Karbi Anglong 191, 197 Karbi Riso Adarbar 194 Karbis 197 Karna (Chaulukya ruler) 92 Karnataka 8, 17, 55, 57, 62, 66, 71, 195, 206 Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha 191 Karnavati see Ahmadabad Kasba Khanpur 93 Kasba Sultanpur 93 Kashchah-Mar 66 Kashi see Varanasi Kashmir 21, 56, 71, 74–6, 110 Kashmir Kashyap-Mar 56, 70 Kashyapa 56, 70 Kashyap-Pura see Kashmir Kashyap-Mar

Index  227

Kasi 84 Kasmira see Kashmir Katantra-Vyakarana 14 Kathiawad 205 Kathiawar 148 Kaul, M. N. 167 Kautaliya/Kautilya 48, 73 Kavalam Madhava Pannikar 154 Kedara Bhumi/Kedra Khanda 64 Kedarnath 84 Kerakas 57, 68 Kerala 8, 56, 63, 66, 68, 71 Kerala Congress 8 Khadki 95 Khalilabad 90 Khan, Akbar Ali 167 Khan, M. Ajmal 168 Khandesh 124 Khan PurDhani 90 Khan Sahin 90 Khasas 56, 67 Khudaganj 95 Khujista Bunya 92 Khuntia, Rama Chandra 181 Kilachand, Tulsidas 175 Kishkindha 80 Koch-Rajbanshis 200 Kolkata 7 Kollam 86 Konarak 7 Konkan 5 Konkanastha Brahmins 5 Kosal state 191 Koshal Kranti Dal 194 Kotamukku 85 Kozhikode 126 Krishnamachari, T. T. 152 Krishnan Iyer, K. V. 126 Kukiland 197 Kuki National Front 194 Kukis 197 Kumbakonam see Kotamukku Kumbh Mela 82–3, 125 Kunzru, Hriday Nath 154 Kurian, K. Mathew 174 Kutch region 191 Laccadivi, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands see Lakshadweep Lahore 87 Lakhanpur 80 Lakhisarai 93 lakshadvipa 63 Lakshadweep/Lakshwadeep 53, 55–6, 61, 63, 71, 116, 173–4

Lal, Devi 128 Lal Kot see Delhi Lamlangong 85 Lammitllons 15 Landfall Island 104–5 Langthabal 85 language 14, 16; and dialect-based place names 199–200; and music names 68–70 latitude 10 Le Corbusier 87 Legislative Assembly of Pondicherry 172 leopard cat see Prionailurus bengalensiss Lieutenant Governor’s province 105–6 Linguistic Reorganization of States 153 Lodhi, Sikandar 92 Lok Sabha 52, 154–6, 177, 182, 189 longitude 10 Lutyens, Edward 128 Lytton, Robert Bulwer- 113 McCluskie, Ernest Timothy 102 McCluskieganj railway station 102 McLeod, Donald Friell 103 McLeodganj 103 Made Only in India 22 Madhok, Balraj 189 Madhubani 86 Madhya Bharat see Malwa Union Madhya Pradesh 8, 53, 61, 71, 121, 195, 198, 202, 206 Madras see Chennai Madras Legislature 164 Madurai 82 Madurai Kamaraj University 125 Magadha state 191 Mahabali see Monghahanba Mahabalipuram 85 Mahabalipuram temple 81 Mahābhārata/Mahabharata 47, 73–4, 80, 85, 94, 125, 199, 205 Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda 16 Maharashtra 17, 53, 55, 62, 68, 80, 174–7, 198, 206 Maharashtrathus 55 maharatha 55 Mahavidarbha Samiti 203 Maha-Vidarbha Sangharsha Samiti 203 Mahavira 48 Mahe 8 Mahtab, B. 180–1 Maithili language 191 Makotai 82 Malappuram 85

228 Index

Malavas 198 Malavi 4 Malik Ahmad 92 Malwa 198 Malwa Plateau 4 Malwa Union 148 Mamluks 96 Mangalore 126 Mani, A. D. 167–8 Manimekalai 165 Manipur 8, 15, 54, 71, 85, 124, 195, 204 Manudvipa 48 Manusmriti 111 map preparation 133 Maps and Graphics 5 Maran, Murasoli 158, 164 Marathwada 198 Markavu 85 Marwar 5 Marwari 5 Masood-ul-Zaman, Sheikh 150 Mawsynram 65 Mayilatutur 85 Meenakshi Temple 81 Megasthenes 46 Meghadoot 65 Meghalaya 8, 58, 64–5, 76 Mehmedabad 95 Mehta, Harsa 16 Meiteis 15 Members of Parliament 154 Mendenhall, T. C. 112 Menon, M. G. K. 133 Micromax Moulsari Avenue station 129 Ministry of Home Affairs 121, 130, 154 Ministry of Home Affairs Guidelines of 1975 131 Mirzapur 90 Mishra, Kalraj 179 Mission Kashmir (2000) 5 Mithila 199 Mithila: A Union Republic 200 Mithilanchal 194 Mithila Rajya Nirman Sena 194 Mitra, Chandan 158 Mizoram 8, 58, 64, 76 modernity 87 Modi, Narendra 127 Mohammadabad 95 Mohammadi 95 Mohammad (Prophet) 95 Mohammad PurMajri 95 Mohenjodaro 78 Mohideen, P. M. Kader 180

Monghahanba 85 Mongoloids 53 MonKhmer 68 Monopoly game 5 Moplahs 6 Mountbatten, Louis 119 Mountbatten Plan ( June 1947) 50 Muauzzam see Bahadur Shah I Muazzamabad 96 Muga 4 Mughal badshahs 91 Mughals 88 Mughalsarai 93 Mughalsarai railway station see Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction Muhammadabad see Banaras Muhammad Shah 94 Mukherjee, Hirendra Nath 162, 164 multiple vs. single names 173–4 Mumbai 14, 121, 126; vs. Maharashtra 159 Municipal Corporation of Delhi Act (1957) 130 Murad Baksh 91 Murahari, Godey 165, 170 Muslims 89 Muzaffar Khan, Sayyid 94 Muzaffarnagar 94 Mysore 121; vs. Karnataka 159–62 Nabhivarṣa 47 Nagaland 4, 8, 53, 58, 66, 68, 70, 76, 168–70 Naga Lima Act (1962) 169 Naga Mircha 4 Naga National Council 204 Nagas 68 Nagpur Provincial Congress Committee 203 Naicker, E. V. Ramasamy 6 Nakkavaram 68 Nakshaman Gujarat 16 Namcha Barwa 64 names: carry adjuncts 53–4; climatic 64–5; connection with attributes of place 58; double 52–3; ethnic diversity and linguistic variety 57–8; flora and fauna 66–7; river 65–6; same territory 54; territory change 54; see also place name Naqsh-e Rustam 45 Naryanaswmay, V. 173 Nashik 80 Nath Ojha, Nagendra 157 National Aeronautics and Space Administration 11

Index  229

National Atlas and Geographical Names 133 National Compendium of Place names 136 National Geographic 5 National Herald 120 nationalism and place names 119–37; in 1947 120–1; change of names of settlements, localities and roads 125–9; India’s reluctance to standardize 135–7; policy for naming and renaming 130–3; selling place names to multinational companies 129; standardization for uninhabited parts 135; United Nations Organization 133–4 National Map Policy 9 natural names 59–67; based on location 61–2; geology and relief 63–4; shape and size 62–3 Nawabganj 21, 90 Nawanshahr 124 Negritos 53 Nehru, Jawaharlal 6, 49, 169 Nehru Memorial Museum Library 23 Neil Island 103, 127 Neil, James 103 Nellore district 125 Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep see Ross Island New Delhi 128 New Delhi Municipal Corporation 130–1 Nicobarese people 68 Nicobar Islands 68, 99, 109, 116 Nicobar pigeon see Caloenas nicobarica Nizam of Hyderabad 204 North Arcot Ambedkar see Vellore North Cachar Hills Autonomous State Demand Committee 197 North-eastern states 8 North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) see Arunachal Pradesh North India 82 Nyasa 14 Obedullaganj 95 Odisha see Orissa ONGC Shivaji Stadium Metro station 129 online marketing portals 3 Onomastics 15 ‘Open Series Maps’ 9 ‘Open Sesame’ 3 oral tradition 15 Ordras 68

“Original muslin” 4 Origin and Foundation of Madras 127 Orissa 8, 68, 116; vs. Odisha 180–3 orthography 110–11, 113, 131 Oxford School Atlas 73 Padhirnupathu 165 ‘Pagarju tie’ 85 Pahadia, Jagganath Prasad 171 Pakistan 44, 50, 119–20 Pallipalayam Agraharam 81 Pamheiba (King) 85 Panchanada 74 Pandavapura 125 Pande, Bandri Datt 150 pan-India identity 8, 82 Pāṇini 13–14, 45, 47, 73 Panjab University 103 Pant, Govind Ballabh 151–2, 159, 160 Pant, K.C. 174 Pantulu, Tanguturi Prakasam 124 Parasurama 63 Parliament debates on names: classification 158–83; features 155–8 Parliament of India see Houses of Parliament Parvatakara-rajye 64 Pataliputra see Patna Patasani, Prasanna Kumar 181 Patel, Dahyabhai V. 169 Patel, I. J. 16 Patel, Purushottamdas Rachhoddas 175 Patel, Sardar Vallabh Bhai 148, 177 Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) 148 Patna 96 Patra, N. 165 Pattabhiraman, T. S. 164 Penck, Albrecht 112 People’s Party of Arunachal Pradesh 8 Persianization of place names 88–97, 104, 126–7; confirming victory 93–4; personal names of rulers/commander in chief 91–3; reiterating Muslim social milieu 90–1; religious place names 94–7 Persian language 88–90, 97 Persian vs. indigenous names 170–2 Perspectives in Place Name Studies 17 Philately 4 Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya 7 physiographic names 59 Pillai, A. Thanu 152 Pillai, J. S. 173

230 Index

Pioneer 115 place branding 129 place name 2; bonds people with 5–6; creating experience 7; dividing 9; finding information 2–3; geographers lack involvement in 20–1; geographers role in national stock 21–2; hobbies and games 4–5; integrating 7–8; locates and differentiates 2; number of 9–10; with products, discoveries, communities 3–4; societies 17–19; study 13–17; traces history of people and 6–7; see also individual entries Place Names Society of India 16–17, 19 placenism and future place names 188–206; vs. subregionalism 192–3; aspirational states 195; back to past 205–6; clamour for new states 189–92; spatial pattern of movements 195–201; subnational units in present and future 201–2; success of movements 202–5; use of symbols 193–5 Plains’ Tribal Council of Assam 204 plantation names 101–2 political instability 88 political leaders: place names change for 128–9 Pondicherry 8, 10, 99, 172–3, 195 Poona see Pune Port Blair 103 Port Blair Cantonment 102 Port Cornwallis 103 Porto Novo 98 Portuguese 98 Postal Index Number (PIN) 12 Prakasam district 124 Prasad, Rajendra 151 Prayag/Prayagraj see Allahabad prevalent vs. popular names 177–83; Orissa vs. Odisha 180–3; Uttaranchal vs. Uttrakhand 177–80 Prime Meridian 10 Prionailurus bengalensis 4 prithivi-rajya 48 prithivivallabha 48 Provincial Congress Committee 203 Ptolemy 46 Public Interest Litigation 50 Puduccheira/Puducherry see Pondicherry Pune 126–7 Punjab 58, 62, 65, 71, 74–6, 110, 121, 170–2 Puri 84 Purvanchal 201 Purvanchal Economic Zone 203

Purvanchal Mukti Morcha 194 Purvanchal Vikas Nidhi 203 Puttappa, Patil 162 Pygmalion 105 Qadi Ahmad 92 Qazigund 90 Qila Rai Pithora see Delhi qualifying English words as place names 105–6 Radhakrishnan, Varkala 179, 184 Rafiganj 90 Rahimatpur 95 railway station names 102 Rajagopalan, Lalitha 168 Rajasthan 8, 53, 62, 69, 71, 74, 76, 121, 148, 200 Rajatarangini 70 Rajiv Gandhi Chowk 128 Rajputana see Rajasthan Rajputana Agency 106 Rajputs 69 Rajwara see Rajasthan Rajya Sabha 52, 154–6, 189 Ramachandran, Gingee N. 173 Ramachandran, R. 79 Ramacharitmanas 199 Ramadass, M. 158, 173 Ramanathapuram 85 Ramayana 7, 47, 73–4, 80, 85–6, 126 Ram/Rama (King) 47 Ramulu, Potti Sri 125 Rangareddi district 124 Rao, Birendra Singh 157, 190 Rapid Metro 129 Rashtrakuta Dynasty 127 Rashtriya Janata Dal 182 Rasulpur 95 rathi 68 Rayalaseema 191 Reddy, Konda Venkata Ranga 124 Reddy, Sandinti Rajasekhara 124 regional disparity and aspirational states 191–2 regional names 127–8 religious place names 69–70, 80–2, 94–7; deity in temples 81–2; donors to priests 81; duplicating 82; group 82–5; names of god and goddess 80; personalities from epics 80–1 Report of the State Reorganization Commission (1955) 154 Republic of Bharat see Bharat Ganarajya Residential Welfare Association 131

Index  231

Revel, Henry 103 Revelganj 103 Revolt of 1857 see Sepoy Mutiny Rig Veda 47, 79, 86 Rishabhanatha 46 rishis 5 Riyan, Baju Ban 190 Roberts, F. S. 103 Robertsganj 103 Rohilkhand 205 Rohtak 86 Ross Island 127 row and path numbers 11 Royal Assent 50 Sabarkantha, Gulzarilal Nanda 172 Sadulshahar 92 saeylai 4 Sahakaravaram see Markavu sailam 4 St. George’s Day 104 St. Thomas Mount 104 Saket 80 Salaam Bombay (1988) 5 Salem 4 Salimabad see Ajmer Salvakagiri 86 Salvas 87 salya 4 saṃsara 46 Samuel, M. H. 164 Samyukta Maharashtra movement 203 Sangitapura see Haduvalli Sangma, P.A. 188 Sanskrit 16, 84–5, 87–8, 96 Sanskritization of place names 78–87, 95; duplicating religious place names 82; religious group names 82–5; and religious place names 80–2; resonating with natural environment 86–7 Santhanam, K. 152 Sapta Puri 82 Sapta-Sindhiva 45 Saraikela Kharswan 93 Sardarshahar 93 Sarvvavarman 14 Satpathy, Tathagata 181 Saurashtra Sankalan Samiti 191 Schwartzberg, Joseph E. 73 Second Boer War 103 Sedia Frontier Track see Arunachal Pradesh Seemanchal 201 Sekhar, N. C. 161 Sepoy Mutiny 103 settlement names 102–4

Shabdamanidarpana 161 Shah, Jayaben 55, 175 Shah, Manabendra 178 Shahabad 91 Shaheed Dweep see Neil Island Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar see Nawanshahr Shah Jahan 94, 96 Shahjahanabad see Delhi Shah Jahan (Mughal Emperor) 91 Shahkot 91 Shahpura 91 Shah Shuja 94 Shaikh Ahmad 92 Shaikh Farid 91 Shakuntala 111 shalika 4 Sharma, Diwan Chand 171, 189 Sharma, Rakesh 49 Shastri, Prakash Vir 167, 176 Shatapatha Brahmana 47 Sheldrick, Chris 12–13 Shergarh 93 Sherkot 93 Sherpura 93 Sher Shah Suri 93 Shetty, K. K. 161 Shikar 93 Shikarpur 93 Shikohabad 92 Shivaji Stadium station see ONGC Shivaji Stadium Metro station Shiva/Siva (Lord) 70, 82 Shiwalik Range 86–7 Shree Jagannath Temple 81 Shunmugasundaram, R. 158, 173 Siddhantalankar, Satyavrata 171 Sikandrabad 92 Sikkim 8, 64, 71 Sikkim Democratic Front 8 Silappathikaram 165 Silent Valley 105 Silva, Severine 17 Simhapura 82 Sindh 46, 183–4 Sindhi Linguistic Territory 200 Sindhi Pradesh 200 Sindh/Sindhu (river) 44, 65, 86 Singapore 82 Singh, Bahadur 175 Singh, Dinesh 1 Singh, Gopal 171 Singh, Hukum 170 Singh, Markandey 151 Singh, Raghbir 171

232 Index

Singh, Raghuvansh Prasad 182 Sirumalai 4 Sirumalai hill banana 4 Siva Kasi 83 Social Council of the United Nations 135 Somnath temple 81, 88 South India 8, 79, 81–2, 84–5 Special Committee on Antarctic Names 135 Srinagar 21 Srinivas, M. N. 79 Sriramulu, Pottu 154 Srirangam see Tiruvarankam standardization of place names see Anglicization of place names State Gazetteers 54 State Government of Bihar 120 State Names Authority 136 State Reorganisation Bill 163, 178 State Reorganization Commission 68, 154, 160, 162, 189, 199, 201–4 State Survey Department 133 Stewart, Donald Martin 103 Stewart Island 103 Sthala Puranas 14 St Thomas Mount Cantonment 102 Studies in Dravidian Place Names 17 Studies in Indian Place Names see Bhāratīya Sthalanāma Patrikā Subansiri Frontier Track see Arunachal Pradesh Su-bhritam 47 subnational place names 51–76; boosterism names 71–3; characteristics 52–4; classification of name interpretations 59–70; continuity and change 73–6; multiple interpretations 54–8 subnational unit names 149–54; Constitution of India 154–5; discontent over linguistic reorganization 152–4; in present and future 201–2; Uttar Pradesh 149–52 subregionalism: placenism vs. 192–3 Sugandhi, Murigappa Siddappa 175 Sultanate-e-Khudadad 89 Sultanpur 90 Sultans of Delhi 88, 96 Sun Temple 81 Supreme Court of India 50, 184 Surdas 96, 199 Sur Sangam 199 Survey of English Place Names 17 Survey of India 9–11, 106, 132–3

Survey Training Institute 136 Sutlanganj 90 Sutlej (river) 86 Swami, Sivamurthi 160 Swami Brahmanand Ji 189 Swaraj Dweep see Havelock Island Swatantra Bharat 150 sword-blades 3 Tagore, Rabindranath 51–2 Tahkore, Motisinh Bahadursinh 175 Tai 69 Taj Mahal 7 Takhteh Puri 7 tamar-e-hind 3 Tamarind 3 Tamil 68, 81–2, 84; place names 79 Tamilnad Congress Committee 164 Tamil Nadu 8–9, 17, 68, 71 Tamil Nadu Congress 9 Tamizhakam see South India Tanjore 110, 116 Tarikh-Al-Hind 49 Tau Nagar 128–9 Tea Board of India 101 Telangana 8, 198, 204 Telegraph Department 115 Telengana Rashtra Samithi 204 Ten Degree Channel 53 Tenkasi 84 Teressa and Trinket 99 Tewari, Raj Bhanu Singh 189 Tharangambadi see Tranquebar Thazhava, Kesavan 168 Thiagi Sangaralingar 9 Thiruvananthapuram 80, 85, 126 Tholkappiyam 84 Thomas 111 Thomas, A. M. 162–3 Thoothukudi district 125 Times of India 120 Timmasamudram 86 Tippera 68, 74 Tipperal Hill State 68 Tipu Sultan 89, 92, 96, 99 Tirap Frontier Track see Arunachal Pradesh Tirtha, Swami Ramananda 160 tirthankara 46 Tiruchirapalli/Tiruchirapally 9, 126 TiruMaraikkatu 85 Tiruvarankam 85 Tolkappiyam 14 topographic maps 11

Index  233

toponomy 15, 17–19 topophilia 6 Tranquebar 99 transliteration 111–12, 132–3 tribal-based place names 67–8; and aspirational states 197–9 Trichy see Tiruchirapalli Trigonometrical Survey of India 111 Tripura 8, 54–5, 62, 68 Tripurantaka 55 Tripura Sundari (goddess) 55 Tristhali 84 Trivandrum see Thiruvananthapuram Tryst with Destiny (speech) 49 Tughlaq, Firoz Shah 92 Tughlaqabad 96 Tughlaqs 96 Tulsidas 96, 199 Tulu Nadu 191, 200 Tuluvas 200 Udayachal 204 Udta Punjab (2016) 5 Union Carbide Factory 5 United Kingdom Antarctic Place-names Committee 135 United Liberation Front 204 United Nations Cartographic Section 134 United Nations Conference on Standardization of Geographical Names 135 United Nations Economic and Social Council 134 United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) 46, 134–6 United Nations Organization 2, 133 United Provinces of Agra and Oudh see Uttar Pradesh United States Board on Geographic Names 7 United States of America 112, 135, 188 University of Calcutta 7 University of Madras 7 University of Nottingham 17 Upadhayaya, Nandkishore 150 Upadhyay, Deen Dayal 129 UP Provincial Congress Committee 150 Uran Islampur 95 Urdu 89, 120 Uttarakasi 83 Uttarakhand 53, 61, 64, 71, 156, 201 Uttarandhra 200–1, 206

Uttar Pradesh 8, 58, 61, 71, 149–52, 195, 202, 206 Uttar Pradesh Legislature 149–50 Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Bill 156, 177, 188 Vadgaon Kasba 93 Vadodara 126 Vajpayee, Atal Bihari 182 Vangas 68 Varanasi 8, 83 varsa 47 varsharitu 47 Vasai 98 Vasco da Gama 98 Vatteluttu 84 vehicle registration number 12 Velapuri see Beluru Vellore 124 Venkatappa, Nayak 127 Venkataraman, M. R. 164 Venupura see Bidaravalli Vetaranyam see TiruMaraikkatu Victoria Terminus see Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Vidarbha 198, 203 Vidarbha Rajya Sangharsh Samiti 194, 203 Vidarbha Rajya Sangram Samiti 203 Vidharbha 191, 194 vihara 70 Villalan, Thillai 165, 167 Vinay Patrika 199 Vindhya Pradesh 148 Virudhunagar 125 Vishakhapatnam 80, 126 Vishwavidyalaya metro station see Honda 2 Wheelers station Visnu Purana 200 Vizaynagara Empire 161 Vodafone Belvedere Towers station 129 Vraja 5 Vrajabuli 5 Wadia, A. R. 156 Waghmare, Janardhan 157–8 Waltair see Vishakhapatnam Warangal 4 wards 9 Wazirganj 90 West Bengal 62, 68, 74, 121, 183–4, 200 West Bengal Legislative Assembly 62 what3words 12–13 Wight, Robert 105

234 Index

Wilson, H. H. 111 Worldwide Reference System 11 Yadav, Chandrajeet 174 Yadav, Mulayam Singh 182 Yadav, Shyamlal 80 Yamunotri 84

Yanam 8 Yāska 47 Yechury, Sitaram 177 Zahidi, Khan Gufran 190 Zero Mile Stone 61 Zillmer, Scott 5